Death zone in custody: Tragic spate of suicides in the region
In the past two weeks, two inmates of the Baselland criminal justice centre in Muttenz have been found hanging dead in their cells. The incidents come just months after prison guards at Waaghof Prison returned from their lunch to find a prisoner had hung himself. These three cases are the peak of a spate of prison suicides across Switzerland.
The shock came on Monday morning: an inmate of the Baselland custody unit had taken his own life.
“In the run-up to this event there was no indication that a detainee could do such a thing,“ the spokesperson for the security department, Adrian Baumgartner, told Barfi.ch on request. “All the procedures were followed correctly.“
Two weeks before, at the same place, another detainee had taken his own life. Mr Baumgartner confirmed that there was no link between the two incidents, which had taken place in different wings of the building. The justice spokesperson said the incidents were “completely regrettable“. He added that, when someone wanted to take their own life, they would “find the means“.
The inmate, who hung himself on Saturday night, was Romanian, as was the prisoner who had been found dead two weeks earlier.
“We cannot comment on the crimes the inmates were being kept in custody for,“ Mr Baumgartner said.
However, the news-portal Onlinereports claimed that both Romanians were in custody regarding property related offences. Also the report said there was no connection between the two crimes.
Alone in a cell for 23 hours
In Switzerland there are an average of five suicides in prison every year. Over the last four months in the region there were three. One in October at the Waaghof prison in Basel when a Kosovan man was found dead in his cell after lunch. He had also hung himself. The man had been in the prison for a week prior to his suicide. He had been guilty of “making threats and of domestic violence“.
The conditions in the cells are meagre, and the official requirements are extremely strict. On one occasion of the Basel Historical Museum, the Waaghof had one year ago opened its doors to the public. The cells were sparsely set up and only a few square metres in size. Beside the narrow bed was a wash basin, a toilet and, as a luxury, a shelf and a small television.
The prisoners remain alone in their cells for 23 hours and are only allowed to leave when they are exercising in the yard. The conditions for prisoners are strict anyway.
There is no variety. The prisoners are neither allowed to work nor take up sport. On request however they can get books or pencils. To watch TV, the prisoner must pay one Swiss franc per day. Otherwise he can gather himself into a small ball, stare at the walls, and wait for the 23 hours to pass until exercise time.
Toprak Yerguz from the Media Department at the Basel Justice and Security Department, insisted that staff kept an eye on the detainees.
“Suicide prevention is a continual theme in all prisons, especially as these people are in a particularly exceptional situation. The findings in other cantons and institutions are also taken into account.“
In Waaghof prison there have been two suicides – in 2006 and 2016.
Staring at the walls
The contact between prisoners and the outside world is mostly restricted because of the “risk of colluding or absconding“.
Unlike prisoners who have already been convicted, those on remand do not know their fate. While a case is on-going, the progress of the investigation is mostly not known to the detainees.
Last September, the conditions of prisoners on remand in Switzerland came under fire. After the suicide in the Pöschwies Prison – another one due to hanging – experts found large differences between conditions in prisons in every canton, the Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported.
Even though the “purpose, point and limits of remand“ are clearly laid out in Federal law: actually remand applies only as a “last resort“. In Basel-Stadt there has been a lot of thought put into suicide prevention, according to Toprak Yerguz.
“Suicide cannot be entirely prevented,“ he said.
“Such prevention, at best, would only be possible with a total and permanent control of all prisoners, although this would not be possible either because of human rights law or with the staffing numbers available.“
Keeping the prisoners in a group can also have a releasing effect, however, if the detainees were not permanently locked up in their cells, and people could move around in the common room more often.
Psychologically unstable prisoners would have to be moved to “psychiatry“ if they were showing signs of danger.
Adrian Baumgartner said that the cases in Baselland are currently being investigated. Although, despite two suicides in two weeks, Mr Baumgartner added: “For the time being, we will not make any changes. When the investigation is closed, then we will see what changes are necessary.“
Nevertheless, this remains a dark chapter for the custodial detention system throughout Switzerland. When the child murderer from Flaach two years ago announced her plans to commit suicide in a letter to the authorities, the suicide could still not be prevented. In the region, however, it must have been an alarm signal for those responsible when there were three suicides among remand prisoners within a few months.
Jean Tinguely‘s large sculpture “Méta-Maxi-Maxi Utopia” makes a return to Basel
The construction for the re-installation of a giant art sculpture begins today (Tuesday) at the Tinguely Museum in Basel. The largest work by Tinguely is at the same time the museum‘s biggest accessible walk-through sculpture.
The piece was recently taken to the Kunstpalast Museum in Düsseldorf on the occasion of the “Super Meta Maxi” exhibition in 2016. Now, it is returning. That the construction work is not an easy undertaking is clear when one sees the sculpture. The entire re-installation process can be witnessed live either at the Tinguely Museum or by following the webcam. As of March, the “Utopia” is once again accessible in Basel.