Joran Van der Sloot, the convicted murderer, reportedly attempted suicide last week within the confines of a Peruvian prison.

Prison officials at Challapalca reported that guards discovered Van der Sloot in a dire state, with a towel wrapped around his neck, and described him as being “near death,” as noted by 1819 News. The intervention occurred on December 12 during the morning routine of serving breakfast to inmates.

In the aftermath of the incident, the Peruvian Ministry of Justice confirmed that Van der Sloot’s condition had stabilized. He subsequently discussed his prison experiences with a film crew, as reported by Radar Online.

“Every day it feels like the situation worsens for us inmates,” he remarked. “We’re unable to be with our families, nor can we touch or hug them.”

Van der Sloot is currently serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores in Peru. In 2023, a judge extended his sentence by an additional 18 years due to drug trafficking charges.

Also in 2023, officials extradited Van der Sloot to Alabama, where U.S. District Court Judge Anna M. Manasco later sentenced him to 20 years for extorting Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth Holloway.

As part of a plea deal, he confessed to killing Natalee.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, Beth Holloway paid van der Sloot in 2010 for details about the location of her daughter’s remains, but authorities say van der Sloot gave false information and failed to honor his promise.

Natalee Holloway vanished in 2005 while vacationing in Aruba, days after graduating from high school. Van der Sloot, a Dutch national who lived on the Caribbean island, had long been suspected of playing a role in her disappearance.

Van der Sloot admitted that he bludgeoned Natalee’s face with a cinder block before hiding her body in the ocean.

Her remains have never been found.

[Feature Photo: FILE – In this Jan. 13, 2012 file photo, Joran van der Sloot sits in the courtroom before his sentencing at San Pedro prison in Lima, Peru. Peruvian prison officials denied on Monday Nov. 3, 2014, a claim that convicted killer van der Sloot was stabbed by other inmates in the remote maximum security prison where he was recently transferred for disciplinary reasons. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro, File)]