Prison, two more suicides. «Italy intervenes»

The measures adopted are not sufficient and the situation is “alarming”: is the pronouncement of the Council of Europe which today said it was “very concerned” by the high number of suicides in Italian prisons. The request addressed to Rome is that more resources be allocated and “further corrective measures” be taken quickly. A report that comes on the same day as two suicides, bringing the total to forty-two since the beginning of the year. It happened during the night, around one o’clock, in the prison of Biella. He was a 45-year-old man of Romanian origin. On the same evening, a minor inmate of Maghreb origin attempted to take his own life in the Malaspina prison in Palermo. He was saved only thanks to the rapid intervention of the prison police officers. The previous suicide dates back to yesterday, June 13, ad Ariano Irpino (Avellino). Before that, on June 11th in Ferrara. “A silent massacre is taking place in prisons: now we don’t have time to recover, as much as possible, from the dismay of a suicide in prison when another is added” – declared the Campania guarantor of people subjected to measures restricting personal freedom Samuele Ciambriello. «They are both the product of the distance of politics and civil society from prison, and of the lack of socio-health and listening figures». It is not the first time that the Council of Europe has denounced the Italian prison situation. The same appeal arrived last year: concern is also expressed over the fact that Rome has not provided any of the information that had been requested after the last examination conducted by the committee of ministers a year ago. Specifically, it was asked to send data demonstrating that when national courts, or the Court of Strasbourg, indicate that a prisoner must be transferred to a Rems, this happens “without delay”, and not in 35 days as happened in the case for which Italy was condemned by the ECHR.
The executive of the Council of Europe underlines that the announcement on the increase in the 2024 budget for the strengthening of psychological and psychiatric assistance in penal institutions would certainly be positive if it were not for the fact that «in light of the concomitant increase in the costs of these services, the impact of this measure appears limited”. It also comes Andexpressed concern for prisoners suffering from mental disorders who await the transfer from prisons to the Rems (residence for the implementation of security measures). «A prison decree must be passed that deflates prison overcrowding (there are over 14 thousand prisoners in redundancy), – explained Gennarino De Fazio, general secretary of the Uilpa Penitentiary Police -, which allows the extraordinary and accelerated hiring of officers of the Penitentiary Police Force, which is missing more than 18 thousand units, and allows the strengthening of health care, especially of a psychiatric nature”. Overcrowding remains a consistent problem. This is documented by the Council of Europe’s annual criminal statistics on the prison population for 2023 published last week: Italian prisons are in sixth place in Europe for overcrowding.