Prison guards discovered the vulnerable man, with serious mental health problems, in a coma in his cell last Thursday. He was rushed to hospital, where he died. He showed symptoms of dehydration.
This man from Togo, also a diabetic patient, had already been ill for weeks. They stopped eating, vomited and refused their medications. The guards at Ghent prison would have sounded the alarm several times about his state of health, without this being followed up on, according to unions.
The East Flanders public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into the death of the Togolese internee. “A forensic pathologist has been appointed. For the moment, there is no indication that there was malicious intent or the intervention of a third party in the man’s death. But the investigation is still ongoing “.
“We do our best to welcome internees, but they have no place in a prison,” emphasized Dieter Cools of the ACOD union. “They must be placed in a specialized institution, but there are not enough places.” Among the approximately 500 people incarcerated in Ghent prison, 180 to 200 are interned.
