HYOGO (TR) – A 56-year-old man being held at the headquarters detention facility at Himeji Police Station was found hanging in his solitary confinement cell on Saturday. He remains in critical condition, police said, reports the Kobe Shimbun (Apr. 12).
At around 4:45 p.m., a guard became suspicious when the man entered the toilet in his cell and did not come out. Upon entering, the guard found him hanging from a long-sleeved T-shirt that had been hung from the top of the toilet door.
He is believed to have attempted suicide and was rushed to a hospital unconscious. Upon transport, he was breathing.
The man had been subject to increased patrols due to a risk of suicide. According to Hyogo Prefectural Police, there was a surveillance camera in the cell.
Shunmichi Hayashi, deputy head of the Hyogo Prefectural Police Detention Management Division, commented, “The cause is under investigation, but we will thoroughly instruct our officers to prevent such incidents from happening again.”
