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109 inmates committed suicide in France

05 March 2011 21:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. About 109 detainees have successfully committed suicide inside French prisonsin the year 2010, which saw only six incidents less than the previous year, APA reports quoting Press TV.

The figure represents the deaths recorded either in detention facilities or later in hospital, the Observatory of Prisons and Other Detention Center Journals, known as Opale, reported.

The number is expected to reach 121 if those in temporary release, furloughs or with electronic tagging are added, the French daily Le Monde reported.

French prisons are notorious for their relatively high suicide rates. In 2009, 115 inmates committed suicide inside French detention facilities.

French prison officials refuse the inmates their medication and ban them from wearing necklaces or eyeglasses claiming that they would use it to assist their suicide, reports say.

On January 16, 2011, a 17-year old Algerian boy, who was temporarily held in a jail in the French city of Tours, committed suicide.

French media aired a video footage of Paris jails in 2009, caught on camera by prisoners, which showed the dreadful conditions of the prisonâ€™s cells. The footage also showed prisoners having separated restrooms and their beds with a curtain made out of toilet paper.