Over the course of eleven months, from January to November of 2022, 79 inmates (74 males and 5 women) committed suicide in Italian jails. Over the previous decade, this is the largest number of suicides reported in our nation when considering not only the same number of months for each year but all twelve months for each year. The National Guarantor of the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, which is researching the causes and circumstances surrounding inmate suicides in Italian prisons, has made the first findings of its investigation public. An examination of the occurrence in 2022 and a diachronic look during the preceding decade are also part of the preview, which was posted yesterday on the Guarantor's website. When compared to the overall number of inmates in each year, the number for 2022 is even more disturbing: the average jail population is clearly smaller than it was in 2012 (by as many as 11,687 persons), yet there are 23 more suicides this year than there were in 2012.
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