There is a lack of residences to carry out security measures. The only two present in Sicily – one in Naso, in the Messina area, and another in Caltagirone, in the Catania area – guarantee just 68 places. A paltry “coverage” based on needs. In the province of Agrigento alone, according to data provided by the Prosecutor’s Office, there are as many as 16 thousand people suffering from mental illnesses and around 200 are subjected to custodial and non-custodial security measures. After having created two committees for public order and safety, the prefect of Agrigento Filippo Romano also wrote to the department for juvenile and community justice of the Ministry of Justice. And he did so by taking as an example what has happened in recent months in the city of the Temples. A case that has become, in fact, emblematic because “the failure to execute the measure resulting from an initial criminal proceeding has favored – wrote the highest government authority – the repetition and even the extension of the criminal conduct. Conduct which could also have been more serious consequences”.
The case that highlighted the serious, indeed very serious, lack of availability of places in residences for the implementation of security measures (Rems) in Sicily is that of the young man from Agrigento who stalked and threatened the owner of a public establishment. A young man “to whom, during the first criminal proceedings, a security measure of detention was applied to be served in a Rems”, was reconstructed in the letter sent by the prefect to the Ministry of Justice. But there were no places available and therefore it was not possible to implement the safety measure.
Last July 23rd, after having smashed the external furnishings of the premises owned by the persecuted businesswoman and was arrested. And last March 20 he was sentenced to three years and six months in prison by the magistrate of the Agrigento court Micaela Raimondo.
“He became free again and resumed persecuting a businesswoman, destroying her premises”: twenty-nine year old convicted
He returns free due to mental defect and continues to persecute businesswoman, the magistrate: “The system has failed”
“Subjected to a second criminal proceeding following which, this time, his full capacity of understanding and will was recognized, now – continues the reconstruction provided by the prefect to the Ministry – he finds himself imprisoned in the prison of Syracuse”. The case was the subject of two committees for public order and safety because the judge and the prosecutor who dealt with the procedural matters were threatened and, therefore, a risk was highlighted for them too.
“It seems clear that the failure to implement the security measure resulting from the first criminal case has favored – highlighted the prefect Filippo Romano – the repetition and even the extension of the criminal conduct which could have led to more serious consequences”. The prefect’s letter had a single objective: to highlight “the need to implement, and also quickly, every useful initiative to overcome the serious critical issues linked to the availability of places in the residences for the execution of safety measures (Rems) in Sicily”.
