Prison suicides up to 42 so far this year says union

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 14 - There have been 42 suicides in Italy's jails since the start of the year, correctional officers union Osapp said on Friday after a 46-year-old Romanian man took his own life at Biella prison overnight.
    The union said the inmate managed to hang himself from the bars of his cell.
    The Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers has expressed concern about the high number of suicides in Italian prisons and the situations of people suffering from mental disorders who are awaiting transfer from prisons to alternative facilities.
    In a statement on implementation of past sentences passed by the European Court of Human Rights, it "noted with great concern that the measures adopted so far by the authorities have not stemmed the worrying negative trend of suicides in prison observed since 2016 which persisted in 2023 and into the beginning of 2024".
    It urged the Italian authorities "to rapidly adopt further remedial action and secure appropriate additional financial resources to enhance domestic capacity to prevent suicides in prison and to keep the Committee informed of the measures adopted and the progress achieved". (ANSA).