An inmate at Terni jail has committed suicide by hanging himself in his cell, penitentiary police union Sappe said on Monday.
The episode takes to 18 the number of suicides among prisoners in Italian jails since the start of this year.
"We are dismayed and saddened: a prisoner who takes his own life in prison is a defeat for the State and for all of us who work on the front line," said Sappe Secretary General Donato Capece.
The Terni suicide victim was serving a sentence for attempted robbery and had recently been readmitted to jail for alleged domestic violence after a period of house arrest.
Last week Premier Giorgia Meloni said more prison places are needed to ease the chronic overcrowding in Italian jails that has contributed to the recent spate of suicides and that decriminalization of minor crimes as advocated by the opposition centre-left Democratic Party (PD) is not the answer.
Prison unions have complained of chronic understaffing as well as overcrowding and poor conditions as factors contributing to inmate malaise.
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