REGGIO CALABRIA «For some months in the penitentiary institutions present Various critical events related to the prison healthcare situation are taking place in Calabria. The strengthening of the health and Sai area of the Catanzaro prison, as well as of the psychiatric observation and ATSM departments, has led to the concentration in Siano of many inmates with multiple pathologies with a high healthcare impact, also coming from other regions”. This was stated by the regional guarantor of the rights of people detained or deprived of personal liberty Luca Muglia. «The undeniable strengthening of the prison medicine model implemented in Catanzaro during the last year – he continues – has not, however, been accompanied by equally concrete and effective actions in the other territories. This imbalance concerned, in particular, the psychiatry service which currently only a few penitentiary institutions have available, in practice two or three out of the twelve existing ones. In recent days, however, the Rossano prison has also been without a specialist psychiatrist, although it hosts a large number of prisoners who require this figure. In this regard, my Office has repeatedly reported the suffering found in the health areas of almost all Calabrian prisons, indicating that of Vibo as a paradigmatic case where, given the absence of the psychiatry service, approximately 30% of the prisoners are in treatment with psychotropic drugs”. «The simultaneous lack of specialist doctors and penitentiary police – Muglia specified – generates two alarming phenomena. On the one hand, the penitentiary police force finds itself facing medical-health emergencies or mental crises, carrying out tasks and tasks that do not belong to it. On the other hand, prison doctors find themselves carrying out their functions without ensuring minimum safety conditions, putting their personal safety at risk. Operating in these conditions becomes difficult, if not impossible. The repercussions are obvious. The unresolved issues mentioned above end up worsening the conditions of prisoners and contribute to the exponential increase in acts of self-harm and suicide attempts which, not surprisingly, have multiplied disproportionately in our region.” «There is no doubt – concluded the regional guarantor – that the work started by the new director of the Health Protection Department, Francesco Lucia, is important. The Permanent Observatory and the Penitentiary Healthcare Table, chaired by the same, have implemented a project for the overall remodulation of penitentiary medicine which will certainly produce good results. In the meantime, however, urgent interventions capable of stemming emergencies and greater sensitivity on the part of the territorially competent Provincial Health Authorities are needed. At the same time, it is essential that the Penitentiary Administration guarantees greater attention in terms of adapting the prison police staff and the safety of healthcare workers. We need to change pace, otherwise the system seriously risks imploding with serious consequences in terms of the right to care of detained people.”
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