The speed with which Chico Forti obtained a bonus permit to meet his 96-year-old mother, brother and uncle continues to be discussed. The Sbarre di Zucchero association sent a letter to the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, to convey the discontent of all those prisoners who would like to leave prison to see their relatives but are often not allowed to. «We humanely welcomed the possibility given to Chico Forti to immediately take advantage of a permit of necessity, to visit his elderly mother and the skill of the Scaliger penitentiary institute in organizing the translation to Trento in the blink of an eye», writes the association in the letter addressed to Nordio. At the same time, Sbarre di Zucchero points out, «it has humanly saddened us to receive dozens and dozens of testimonies from relatives of “anonymous” prisoners and former prisoners who tell us about emergency permits never received, not even for tragic events such as the death of a parent”.
The controversy over the special permit
The return to Italy of Forti, sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States for the murder of Dale Pyke in 1998, was accompanied by great political and media outcry. The 65-year-old former entrepreneur is detained in the Verona prison and in recent days he obtained in record time a special permit to leave prison for a few hours and see his relatives. A permission that also sparked some controversy from the SPP, the prison police union, which spoke of “bitterness and bewilderment” at the speed with which it was granted.
The stories of other prisoners
Now the other inmates are trying to make their voices heard. And in the letter sent to Nordio by the Barre di Zucchero association they ask for the same rights that were guaranteed to Chico Forti. In one of the letters attached to the letter we read: «I am the wife of a prisoner from Naples, I don’t understand why my husband is not allowed a visit to his elderly mother, my husband is sentenced to 24 years for a drug crime and has asked to to be able to visit the elderly 82-year-old mother who cannot go to prison but they refuse, writing that she is not at the end of her life.” Another letter from a prisoner reads: “I am under house arrest and they have not allowed me to attend the various visits of my wife, who is pregnant.”
