A prisoner at Fier Prison committed suicide last night, according to reports in the media.
It is reported that the individual hanged himself in the toilets of the facility and died in hospital. The individual was serving a sentence for drug trafficking.
This is the second suicide this year in Albanian prisons
Earlier this year, a man suffering from mental health conditions who had been kept in custody for stealing the equivalent of EUR 10, also killed himself. He was being held pending the outcome of his trial.
Bilbil Hasani was suffering from schizophrenia and had medical documentation to support it, including a clinical card. A highly unusual decision was taken to keep him in custody, instead of releasing him on bail or committing him to house arrest.
Albania has been repeatedly criticized for the conditions inside its prisons. The US State Department, the Council of Europe, and the Helsinki Commission. They highlighted poor conditions and the lack of care for prisoners with mental health conditions. The US State Department report on Human Rights, it was noted that “poor physical conditions and a lack of medical care, particularly for mental health conditions, were serious problems.”
The report also stated that the Office of the Ombudsman and nongovernmental organizations reported that authorities held inmates with mental disabilities in regular prisons, where access to mental health care was inadequate.
