Italian Justice Minister Carlo Nordio announced Thursday that the government would invest five million euros in prison-suicide-prevention measures this year after an alarming spate of cases, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

"I have signed a decree allocating five million euros to the penitentiary administration for the current year to strengthen treatment-and-psychological services in (prison) institutions via the involvement of specialized external experts and professionals in order to prevent and combat the dramatic phenomenon of suicides within the prison population," Nordio said.

"The annual budget to prevent suicides and reduce prisoner distress has more than doubled, confirming the government's commitment to rapidly adopting the measures necessary to improve the detention conditions in penitentiary institutions, in view of a more structured, long-term intervention to be proposed as a priority in the next budget law".