“There is much sorrow in prison, disguised as hostility. The sorrow is plainly visible even in the most angry faces.” This message was posted on John McAfee’s personal Twitter account last June. Thirteen days later, the creator of the McAfee antivirus software died in his cell in the Barcelona prison Brians 2, where he had spent eight months in pretrial detention, pending rulings on extradition to the United States on charges of tax evasion and non-payment. McAfee left a note: “Instead of fully living it. I want to control my future, which doesn’t exist.” The autopsy declared his cause of death to be suicide.

In 2020, according to the Council of Europe’s SPACE study (see methodology), 480 people committed suicide in EU member state prisons, of which 172 were in pretrial detention. These people were either awaiting trial or pending the outcome of their appeal; they had not been convicted of any crime. Entering prison, especially before trial, correlates with a higher risk of suicide: in 2020, there were 17.5 suicides per 10,000 people in pretrial detention, double the 8.54 suicides per 10,000 people in the rest of the prison population.

EVA BELMONTE CARMEN TORRECILLAS MARÍA ÁLVAREZ DEL VAYO DAVID CABO MIGUEL ÁNGEL GAVILANES
El Confidencial, Spain: MARÍA ZUIL DW, Germany: KIRA SCHACHT Eurologus, Hungary: LÁSZLÓ ARATÓ Divergente, Portugal: BEATRIZ WALVIESSE VoxEurop, Belgium: ADRIÁN BURTIN 
English editing: LUCAS LAURSEN

May 10, 2022

Almost 100,000 people across the European Union (EU) have one thing in common: their justice systems have locked them up but no court has issued them a final sentence. “If you don’t have the death penalty, pretrial detention is the most severe punishment that a state can use against a person in a democracy,” says German lawyer Thomas Röth. Despite the profound economic, social and personal consequences of going to prison, European courts often use this provisional measure against people whom they must still consider innocent.

More than one in five people in European prisons were, at the beginning of 2021, in pretrial detention, meaning they are waiting for their trial or the result of an appeal. Some 22 of every 100,000 inhabitants in the European Union (EU) were deprived of their liberty before final conviction.

Heterosexual couples in Europe can undergo assisted reproductive treatment, either through their national health services or by paying out of pocket. It’s legal. In just a few places national services hit the brakes if the couple needs donated eggs or embryos.

Things are harder for female-female couples or single women, and even more so for trans or intersex people. A lot harder. Even in countries where you might think there would be no discrimination. In fact, it wasn’t until June of this year that France allowed access to assisted reproductive technology (ART) for these groups. Norway gave single women access in 2020, just a short time ago.

Of the 43 countries analysed for this investigation, 12 do not allow single women to access in vitro fertilisation. Even more countries, 16, also prevent single women from getting assisted insemination. The list of countries that prevent single women from getting a donated egg is even longer.

You can read the full story at Civio. This is the first story in a two-part series published by Civio and its partner the European Data Journalism Network. The second story is here: Civio, EDJN.