"Saturday … at 2:40 pm (1340 GMT), a prisoner at the Champ-Dollon prison was discovered lifeless in his cell by guard personnel," the canton of Geneva's security department said in a statement.
The man, whose name was not given, had been imprisoned last November for breaking and entering, the statement said.
"Initial findings lead to the belief that the death was caused by hanging," it said, adding that strenuous efforts to revive the man had failed and he was pronounced dead at 3.30pm.
An investigation had been opened into the prisoner's death, according to the statement.
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