Basel prison staff convicted of involuntary manslaughter
Published: Wednesday, Oct 23rd 2024, 18:10
Volver a Live Feed
Three guards and one female guard at Waaghof remand prison were convicted of involuntary manslaughter by omission by the Basel Court of Appeal on Wednesday following the suicide of an inmate. The court thus corrected the verdict of the lower court.
The four people were sentenced to fines. It was incomprehensible why the prison staff had not placed the inmate, who had tried to strangle herself, in a recovery position and called the ambulance, said the chairwoman of the three-judge court when the verdict was announced. The staff had significantly increased the likelihood of the inmate's death with their behavior. "They acted carelessly."
The Basel-Stadt Criminal Court acquitted the three supervisors and the female supervisor of involuntary manslaughter in August 2021. Two of them still work at Waaghof.
Violation of the duty of care
However, the criminal court found that the duty of care had been breached to a large extent. It therefore ordered the employees to pay the costs of the preliminary proceedings.
The public prosecutor's office appealed the verdict, and two convicted defended themselves against the assumption of costs. The presiding judge of the Court of Appeal ruled that the decision of the lower court was not tenable.
The asylum seeker from Sri Lanka had tried to hang herself with her trainer top in a surveillance cell in the Basel remand prison in June 2018. The strangled woman was only discovered after around five minutes. Although the guards cut the unconscious inmate free from the noose, they left her lying in a position that severely impaired her breathing for a good ten minutes without providing urgent assistance or initiating resuscitation measures.
©Keystone/SDA
Spanish 
English 
German 
French 
Arabic