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Forty four suicides that occurred behind bars since the beginning of 2024. And the news of the 45th (a young man who hanged himself in his cell in Novara) arrived today, Thursday 20 Junewhile at Villa Mirabello, in Varese, the meeting wanted by the Criminal Chamber to launch an appeal was underway: «Fseal the trail of blood», and talk about the interventions that are urgently needed to change things.
Proposals such as amnesty, access to early release more quickly, greater use of alternative measures to prison, and then the great and complex topic of the redevelopment of prison facilities, to give meaning and dignity to the lives of prisoners.
Topics listed by the lawyer Fabio Margarini, president of the Criminal Chamber, and then explored in depth by numerous guests, including Dr. Giulia Vassalli, supervisory magistrate of the Court of Varese: «The extra-mural experiences they almost always have a positive outcome”, but the problem of managing those who do not have the resources to access measures other than prison remains. And for this he finds himself in cell.
Attention to the prisoner’s mood and his own approach to everyday life is another central theme, especially if we consider the phenomenon of suicides in prison from the perspective of prevention. Dr. Franco Grillo, a psychiatrist who works at the Varese prison, explained it: «Prison operators must pay particular attention to the moments close to a trial, to those following a conviction, as well as to the first months of detention and to the months preceding release, but also to the diagnosis of a severe illness or the loss of a close relative.”
The numbers sobering: 16 suicides, since the beginning of 2024, among prisoners awaiting trial; a suicide rate in prison equal to 8.7 cases per 10 thousand prisoners, compared to 0.66 cases per 10 thousand free citizens (the data is from 2019); around 60 thousand prisoners compared to a maximum capacity of penitentiaries in Italy which stops at around 51 thousand places.
There is the problem of psychiatric diseases, not adequately managed in prison, also due to the sick and socially dangerous subjects who should be in the Residences for the implementation of security measures, where there are not enough places to manage the cases; and there is the problem of living conditions of detained women. The latter topic was addressed by the lawyer Elisabetta Brusa, member of the Prison Commission of the Forensic Congressional Body: «There are almost 3 thousand female prisoners in Italy, and only 4 prisons dedicated to women. Cells and services are designed for men, and currently female prisoners struggle to manage essential aspects such as personal hygiene. We need to talk of these problems. It’s the first way to understand how to resolve them.”
