SALERNO – Fire, flames and violence yesterday in the Fuorni prison in Salerno. “Yesterday morning, a prisoner, already known for having carried out acts which disrupted order and security within the department in which he is confined, set fire to the cell three times, on a pretext, because he wanted to be included in the Articulation Department. Thus mentally (according to him) he would have been able to access a community.” The news was given by the Regional Secretary of the Autonomous Penitentiary Police Union Tiziana Guacci, who adds: “The man, despite being dangerous for the management of the prison because he is disliked by the inmate population and aggressive towards all the prison operators, continues to remain at the Salerno prison. And again yesterday, in the afternoon, he set fire again in the cell under the pretext of going to the infirmary. When the Penitentiary Police staff opened the cell, the inmate became the protagonist of further serious acts of violence: he spat, took a chair and threw it at an Officer, bruising his wrist, and threatened the Inspector of General Surveillance in the throat with a piece of ceramic and punched another policeman who had come forward with a strong punch in the back.” In the chaos that followed, the trade unionist continues, “the Blue Basques managed to accompany the prisoner to the infirmary, after quite a bit of humiliation, harassment and violence. And there too, the inmate destroyed a room where dangerous drugs are kept: subsequently, he managed to take possession of psychotropic drugs present in the infirmary and ingested them by resisting the staff. He was taken to hospital again.”
SAPPE’s complaint is clear: “The prisoner in question has become unmanageable and the Penitentiary Police staff on duty in Fuorni are tired and demotivated by the failure to adopt concrete solutions. In short, it almost seems that the controlled controls the controllers! For too long, Sappe has been reporting the failure to transfer prisoners out of the region: and the serious thing is that, despite this, we find a total lack of answers”.
Donato Capece, general secretary of SAPPE, reports that “the situation at the Salerno prison and in the other Campania prisons is alarming also because in recent weeks other officers have suffered attacks by the inmate population. The staff is increasingly fewer, also following these events which are now commonplace. We foresee a fiery summer if concrete and decisive measures are not taken immediately. The Penitentiary Police staff are exhausted and, despite working more than 10/12 hours a day, are no longer able to guarantee the minimum levels of safety. How long can this situation last?”.
“It can no longer be postponed”, concludes the SAPPE leader, who for this reason appeals to the institutional and political authorities, “to equip the Penitentiary Police with the Taser and any other useful tool to defend themselves from the violence of criminals who have no no respect for the rules and the people who represent the State”.
