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Abstract
These cases concern the legal liability of state authorities with regard to prisoners who take their lives while in custody. Both the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) and domestic law have established that the suicide of a prisoner or other detainee can engage the liability of the state or of a particular public authority. However, whether such liability arises in a particular case depends on all the circumstances, including the characteristics of the prisoner and the actions of the authorities. These and other recent cases confirm the limits of such liability and highlight the difficulties that face relatives of the deceased in their attempt to seek legal redress for such deaths.