PAVIA – More moments of tension inside the Torre del Gallo prison in PAVIA, where an inmate brutally attacked a prison police officer. The episode, yet another in a few days, reopens the issue of safety within detention facilities and raises the alarm of trade unions.
According to what has been reconstructed, the prisoner, who had already been subjected to isolation for ten days, went into a rage after being denied the medical certificate necessary to interrupt the precautionary measure. Once outside the infirmary, the man apparently went crazy, pushing the officers to the ground and biting one of them in the calf. The violence of the attack was such that it caused a piece of skin to detach from the unfortunate guard.
The injured officer was immediately transported to the emergency room, where he received initial medical treatment and tetanus prophylaxis. The prognosis is five days. The CGIL intervened in the episode, denouncing the unsustainable climate of tension that reigns inside the Pavia prison, the scene of frequent attacks against staff. The unions reiterate the urgency of addressing the problem of prison overcrowding, a plague that fuels the frustration and aggression of prisoners.
“It is unacceptable that our officers are forced to work in these conditions”the union representatives thunder. “A decisive intervention by politicians is needed, both at a national and local level, to solve the problem of overcrowding and to guarantee the safety of prison operators”.
In addition to prison construction, the CGIL calls for a strengthening of the prison police staff, together with an increase in the number of educators and healthcare personnel. The latest attack in Torre del Gallo is only the latest piece of an alarming mosaic that paints a picture of tension and shortcomings within the Italian penitentiary system. A complex problem that requires urgent and far-reaching solutions, to protect the safety of those who work and live inside prisons and to guarantee the right to rehabilitation of prisoners.
