A prisoner at Hirtenberg Prison dies during transport after six prison officers beat him in his cell. We say: THIS IS NOT AN ISOLATED CASE!

What happened?
On December 3, 2025, prisoner Michael was to be transferred from JA Hirtenberg to the Baden psychiatric ward due to acute psychosis. During their morning visit to his cell, the officers found him in a psychotic and paranoid state. Instead of seeking medical help, they handcuffed him behind his back and restrained him, which drastically worsened his psychotic state.

Then six masked officers equipped with riot shields entered his cell, punched him in the upper body, and took him to the shower to prepare him for transport. There he suffered further serious head injuries.

With traumatic brain injury, a broken larynx, and other serious injuries all over his body, Michael is placed in the prisoner transport vehicle without being restrained.

After losing consciousness and undergoing two hours of unsuccessful resuscitation, he dies a few hours later in the hospital as a result of his serious injuries.

Michael’s relatives are told that Michael died of heart failure. It is not until four weeks after his death that his family learns of the actual circumstances through the “Falter” investigation.
More information on the exact events can be found in the investigation by the weekly newspaper “der Falter.”

Not an isolated case!

This horrific incident is not an isolated case, but rather an extreme escalation of the thoroughly violent prison system. Michael is not the first person to die in police custody in Austria. Marcus Omofuma was murdered by police officers during a deportation in 1999, Cheibani Wague in 2003 in an exceptional mental state. In 2021, a prisoner died in the Stein prison under unexplained circumstances. The suicide rate in Austrian prisons has also been rising for years – the cause of death is prison.

People in exceptional mental health situations and those affected by racism are particularly often affected by police violence, which repeatedly leads to death.

Our sympathy goes out to Michael’s relatives and to all those affected by police violence.