Late yesterday morning, the Gazzi prison was the scene of a serious episode of violence, when an inmate, expressing his dissent towards the prison rules, attacked an officer with scissors, trying to hit him repeatedly in the face. The accident required immediate intervention from colleagues, who were also involved and three of whom were urgently transported to the emergency room of the Polyclinic.
The General Secretary of the FP CGIL, Francesco Fucile, together with the provincial coordinator Giovanni Spanò, promptly denounced this episode, underlining the seriousness of the situation and the importance of protecting the safety of the penitentiary officers operating within the structure. Not only were the officers called to intervene to quell the attack, but also to prevent a further attempt by the inmate to start a fire in his cell:
“This is certainly not an isolated incident. The repetition of incidents of this kind creates an extremely difficult working environment for prison officers, who deserve the utmost solidarity and protection. It is urgent that the management of the Gazzi Prison and the competent authorities take concrete measures to guarantee the safety of the officers. The evaluation of the work of police officers by the Department’s Rewards Commission and the implementation of effective protection actions appear necessary more than ever, considering the increasingly complex conditions in which officers are forced to operate.
It is essential that a safe working environment is guaranteed for prison officers, so that they can carry out their work in compliance with the rules and safety, without jeopardizing their own safety. The protection of prison workers is an institutional and moral duty, and requires a concrete commitment on the part of the competent authorities to prevent and deal with situations of violence such as the one that occurred yesterday at the Gazzi prison.”
