A national plague that is becoming increasingly deeper and more painful. It is the tragedy of suicides in prison, which are frequent and, unfortunately, little discussed.
This is the difficult but crucial issue that the Criminal Chamber of Varese, led by Fabio Margarini, wanted to address in a conference with the emblematic title: “There is no more time”.
But how to react? First of all, on a cultural level, the Surveillance Magistrate Giulia Vassalli and the president of the Criminal Chamber of Milan, Valentina Alberta, respond: “It is necessary to favor alternative punishments to prison, especially for minor crimes and prisoners suffering from psychiatric problems”.
Among the speakers, Rita Bernardini, a radical exponent who announced the imminent start of a hunger and thirst strike.
And Elisabetta Brusa, who at the top of the Bar Association deals with detention, with particular attention to the approximately 3 thousand women in prison
Suicides in prison, experts agree, is an uncomfortable issue, politically unpopular and marred by violence which, without decisive intervention (also through the inclusion in penitentiaries of professional figures alternative to the Penitentiary Police, which in turn is subjected to tensions and unsustainable inconveniences), will only get worse.
In closing, a sad news note. The meeting was accompanied by a gloomy fact: the 44 prisoners who have committed suicide since the beginning of 2024.
Well, during the conference, the number rose to 45, for a prisoner who took his own life in Novara. A sad confirmation of an intervention that can no longer be postponed.
