Mortality of detainees in Russia

Since the beginning of 2015, 125 people have died in police stations, pre-trial detention centres, and temporary detention facilities in Russia — such data was provided to Mediazona by the ‘Russian Ebola’ project.
In the first half of the year, 71 people died in police stations, 29 in temporary detention facilities, 16 in pre-trial detention centres, eight more detainees died in police service vehicles, and one during an investigative experiment.
Among the deceased, four people had come to the police station voluntarily: one person to pick up a relative, two to file a report, and one to hand in found items.

The most common cause of death for detainees in the first half of 2015 turned out to be ‘sudden deterioration in health’ — 71 people; reports on such cases most often spoke of ‘unexplained circumstances’ or heart failure: heart attacks or blood clots.
Suicide by hanging took second place (40 people). Among other causes of death, epilepsy was mentioned (four people), tuberculosis (two), craniocerebral trauma (two), fire (one), injuries resulting from a road traffic accident (one), and injuries sustained in a fight (one person).
Three people were murdered; of these, two were killed by police officers, and one by cellmates.
Among the detainees, 33 were found to be intoxicated by alcohol, and three by drugs.
Police officers provided first aid 61 times. An ambulance was called to all cases of death in police departments, temporary detention facilities, or pre-trial detention centres.
The average age of the deceased is 41; the youngest was 18, the oldest was 78. There were 115 men and 10 women among them.

Deaths occurred most often on Tuesday — 22 cases, on Wednesday and Friday — 21 cases each, on Monday — 17 people, on Thursday — 16, on Sunday — 15, and the fewest cases of detainee deaths were recorded on Saturday: only 13 people.

In January, 19 people died, in February — 17, in March — 21, in April — 18, in May — 29.
Detainees most often died in the Central (29 people), Privolzhsky (25), Ural (16), Far Eastern (14), North-Western and Siberian (13 people each), Southern (nine), and North Caucasian (six) federal districts.

The previous, May, report of ‘Russian Ebola’ was published by Mediazona on 1 June. Over the past month, another 20 people died in police departments, temporary detention facilities, and pre-trial detention centres in Russia; of these, 10 in police stations, seven in temporary detention facilities, and three in pre-trial detention centres.

Most often in June, detainees died from ‘sudden deterioration in health’ (11 people); six committed suicide, one did not survive a road traffic accident, one died from an epileptic seizure, and one more from wounds sustained in a fight. Alcohol intoxication was detected in three of the deceased; police officers provided first aid to the dying 11 times, and an ambulance was called to all cases.

‘Russian Ebola’ is a project by journalist Maria Berezina dedicated to monitoring the deaths of detainees and arrested persons in police stations and detention facilities using open sources. Its name is borrowed from the article of the same name by Oleg Kashin.