Russia has outpaced all European countries in the number of inmate deaths with a total of 4,200 lethal cases registered in the country's prisons in 2013, the RBC business newspaper reported Tuesday, citing a report prepared by the Council of Europe.
The Council of Europe report studied the prison systems of 47 countries. Of 4,200 deaths registered in Russian prisons, 461 were suicides, the report said.
Russia has also shown the highest inmate mortality rate among major European countries — six deaths per 1,000 prisoners, while in other countries this figure stands at about 2.8, the report said.
The report stated that Russia — despite the annual 5 percent reduction in the number of inmates — ranks first in prison population among the European states, with 467 inmates per 100,000 people. In 2014, Russia had a total of 671,000 prisoners serving five to 10 years on average.
Russia also has the largest number of inmates convicted of murder among the European countries, the report said, RBC reported.
