BOSTON (AP) — A lawyer who formerly represented Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz on computer hacking charges says he told prosecutors about a year ago that Swartz was a suicide risk.

The family of 26-year-old Swartz says he hanged himself at his New York apartment on Friday.

Boston lawyer Andrew Good, who represented Swartz in the case last year, said Monday that when he told prosecutors Swartz was a suicide risk, they offered to hold him in jail to protect him from himself.

Swartz's current lawyer Elliot Peters said prosecutors told him two days before Swartz's death that Swartz would have to spend six months in prison and plead guilty to 13 charges if he wanted to avoid going to trial.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz declined comment.