Two suicides by inmates in 15 days in Catalan prisons have put the Catalan government on alert. The Ministry of Justice, headed by Ramon Espadaler, has announced a review of protocols and the definition of urgent measures within two weeks to address mental health problems in penitentiary centres.
Late on Thursday, the Ministry of Justice reported the suicide of an inmate at Lledoners prison. On September 5, an inmate at Brians-1 also took her own life. The two deaths mean that ten inmate suicides have occurred so far this year, a figure that exceeds the six that occurred in 2023 and is approaching the black figure of 14 in 2022, one of the highest in recent years.
Suicides among prisoners are one of the biggest problems in penitentiary centres. Long sentences and prison dynamics have a negative impact on the mental health of inmates, which is why professionals recommend measures that involve contact between inmates and the outside world and the recovery of their social ties outside of prison as soon as possible.
More than half of inmates in Catalan prisons suffer from some type of mental health problem, a figure that is seven times higher than in the rest of the population, according to a study from the end of 2022 by Justicia i Pau.
The former Minister of Justice, Gemma Ubasart, promoted the incorporation of a hundred professionals last spring to work on mental health in prisons. The new team in the department, led by Minister Ramon Espadaler, announced a shock plan this Friday.
According to a statement issued by the department, the group for monitoring and preventing suicides in penitentiary centres, made up of professionals from Justice and Health, met on Friday to draw up a “shock plan” with short-term measures.
It has been agreed that within a period of fifteen days the working group will adopt “concrete measures” to improve suicide prevention, the department added. The aim is to improve information between prison officers and doctors for the prevention and approach to suicide, to evaluate predictive factors and to establish a “precise” monitoring period for inmates who are part of mental health units and prevention protocols.
Source: www.eldiario.es
