The 78-year-old man who last October killed his son-in-law in Lleida has committed suicide in his cell at the Ponent penitentiary center (Lleida) early this morning. The inmate, who was in pre-trial detention, did not have the suicide prevention protocol activated due to lack of indications justifying the measure, the Department of Justice of the Generalitat reported in a statement. Following the incident, the prison management has initiated an investigation into what happened, as well as informing the judicial authority of the facts.
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The inmate was in pre-trial detention after on October 8 he shot his son-in-law, a mosso d’Esquadra aged 47 assigned to the Mollerussa police station. After committing the homicide, probably as a result of a family conflict, he covered him with a white sheet and remained at the scene, where he surrendered to the officers. He was the one who called to report the murder. In a bag, he carried a comb and a toothbrush, in addition to the weapon, so he supposedly expected to enter prison after committing the acts.
The suicide that occurred today in Lleida is the fourth to occur so far this year in Catalan prisons. In at least three of them, according to information accessed by EL PAÍS, no prevention protocol had been activated. Justice has stated that any of these acts “is a failure of the system,” so it has committed to analyzing the situation of the facts to “strengthen” prevention and consider the possibility of taking additional measures. “The center has activated the internal mechanisms provided to support the professionals and inmates who require it,” the department said in a statement.
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A report from the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions on the 33 suicides and 104 attempts recorded in 2022 in 81 prisons under the Ministry of the Interior (Catalan prisons are not counted) indicated that around a quarter of the inmates who decided to take their own lives did so within the first three months of their stay.