A 32-year-old detainee was found hanged in his cell in the Osny remand center (Val-d'Oise) on Tuesday evening, we learned on Wednesday from the Pontoise prosecutor's office.
He had been imprisoned since May 2021 following three judgments, in particular for contempt and drunk driving and his sentence was set for April 2022.
A suicide attempt on Monday already
This act revives the controversy over the extremely high number of suicides in French prisons.
According to the International Prison Observatory (OIP), inmates commit suicide six times more than the general population.
But above all, France is in a very bad position compared to its European neighbors.
In 2015, the average suicide rate in European prisons was 5 per 10,000 inmates, compared to 16 per 10,000 in France in 2018, according to a report from the management of the prison administration.
In 2019, 128 prisoners committed suicide.
Between January 1 and August 17, 2020, 82 suicides were recorded.
The Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, launched an inspection mission last year to strengthen suicide prevention in prison.
The day before, Monday, another detainee from the same remand center had been transported in a relative emergency to the Pontoise hospital center by firefighters after trying to hang himself with his sheets, reports the Gazette du Val-d'Oise.
