Sixteen inmates committed suicide last year in Belgian prisons

In 2015, 16 inmates committed suicide while doing time in a Belgian prison. That's less than the 18 suicides in 2014, but equal to the 16 suicides committed in the previous year, according to justice minister Koen Geens in response to a written request from socialist party MP Elio De Rupo.

Three prisoners took their own life last year in the prison of Tournai, two each in the prisons of Antwerp, Arlon and Turhout and one each in Bruges, Hoogstraten, Lantin (pictured), Mechelen, Namur, Saint-Gilles and Forest.

During the period 2013-2015, the highest number of suicides were recorded in Lantin (7), followed by St-Gilles and Bruges (5 each) and Antwerp, Ghent, Tournai, Turnhout and Forest (3 each).