XN000022-1996-01-10 — Page 68

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Suicide attempts by suspects under arrest

Following is a question by the Hon Selina Chow and a written reply by the acting Secretary for Security, Mrs Carrie Yau, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council:

(a)

(b)

of the number of suspects who have committed, or have attempted to commit, suicide whilst under arrest by the police or in police detention in each of the past three years; and

subsequent to each such incident, what follow-up actions the police takes and what measures the police adopts to prevent the recurrence of such incidents?

Reply:

Mr President,

The answers to the two parts of the question are set out below:

(a)

The number of suspects who have committed suicide during police custody or detention in the past three years is as follows:

1993

1994

1995

Total

1

2

3

6

There were 19 cases of attempted suicide in 1995. The figures for 1993 and 1994 are not available.