In six months, in 2024, they are 45 suicides have already occurred in Italian prisons: “Dying in prison. There really is no more time” says the Criminal Chamber of Monza in the face of a defining phenomenon “unacceptable” and what it should be addressed “without shyness and with a firm voice”.
For this reason he invites the “oratory marathon”, organized by the Union of Italian Criminal Chambers, on July 3rd from 11.30am until at 2.30/3.00 pm, in Piazza dell’Arengario in Monza, “to raise public awareness of the degrading conditions to which prisoners are forced”. A theme “that involves us all” writes the Monza management in a note.
Monza, the “oratory marathon” of the Criminal Chamber in Piazza dell’Arengario
Anyone can participate in the “marathon”: “to bring one’s own contribution of professional and human experience and one’s sensitivity to the topic of Italian prisons, through a reflection lasting a maximum of approximately 5 minutes”. A moment to which magistrates, legal practitioners, professionals and experts who experience the environment of penitentiary institutions on a daily basis will be invited, “but also “ex-prisoners” who will be able, through their story, to tell the deepest meaning and impact of the prison experience”.
The Monza Bar Association and the Criminal Chamber see it as an opportunity: “to express the social value of our role, to present ourselves to our community not only as technicians but as people who dedicate themselves to protecting the rights of everyone, including and above all those who have less voice”.
Monza, judicial abstention from 10 to 12 July to denounce the prison situation
The criminal defense lawyer also proclaimed a judicial abstention from 10 to 12 July “to denounce, once again, the inhuman situation of Italian prisons, an image of the failure of a system that represents the denial of democracy itself”.
“The protection of people’s rights is everyone’s duty, especially those, such as lawyers
criminal lawyer, assumes the role of controller of compliance with the rules and safeguarding of guarantees;
the courtroom cannot be the only terrain in which to compete” we read again in the note from the Monza Criminal Chamber.
Monza, the Criminal Chamber: “Rethink the rules that govern precautionary custody”
Also highlighted is the distance between: “the constitutional principles that should guarantee dignity, care,
re-education and the dramatic reality of the execution of the prison sentence” in “overcrowded, inadequate prison facilities with reduced numbers of staff and lack of resources” so much so that according to the criminal lawyers of Monza it is a “forgotten planet which takes on, in defiance of the re-educational purpose of punishment, a criminogenic connotation, restoring citizens deprived of their dignity to society”.
“The real challenge, the most courageous, most unpopular and therefore difficult to explain, consists
in a rethinking of the rules that govern the application of pre-trial detention, often
an advance sentence not justified by sufficient precautionary requirements” says the board of the Monza Criminal Chamber. “Prison therefore, truly as an extrema ratio, with the reservation of the maximum custodial measure to situations that require it due to an actual, serious danger to the community”.
