Prisoners on suicide watch often must wear a safety smock. The smock, developed about 20 years ago, is made of sturdy nylon too bulky to be fashioned into a rope or noose.

Anti-suicide smocks were first used in Santa Cruz, Calif.’s county jail in the 1980s, and have been manufactured commercially since 1989.

The ballooning costs are consequently impacting the sale of smock which has seen at least 20% upward adjustment in price. It was a busy morning at Comfort Nyuur’s weaving shop in the Upper West ...

Mr Nashiru said cotton served as a source of raw material for many small private sector industries in the Northern Region, such as smock weaving.