Press release of 26 June 2024 – Prisons: Punitive expedition to Palermo Ucciardone, but where is the Government?
Rome, 26 June. – “We learned that in the evening some inmates of the Ucciardone prison in Palermo, after having stolen the keys from the prison police officer on duty in the detention section, allegedly opened some cells and disfigured a non-EU inmate with a cut on the face in what was supposed to be a real punitive expedition. Immediately afterward, they allegedly returned the keys and returned to their respective cells”.
This was stated by Gennarino De Fazio, General Secretary of the UILPA Penitentiary Police.
“What happened, if confirmed according to the reconstruction that has reached us, makes clear that in fact the control of the prisons is in the hands of crime which at any moment can carry out its criminal plans, regardless of the ongoing commitment which, with profound self-denial , is guaranteed by the women and men of the penitentiary police force, who however can do very little, effectively remaining abandoned to themselves. Short of 18 thousand units, subjected to exhausting shifts, without an organizational apparatus worthy of the name, with very little and inadequate equipment, exhausted in the morale and pride of servants of the State and, moreover, exposed to criminal and disciplinary proceedings, with sudden suspensions from service when, despite everything, they try at their sole risk and peril to maintain order and safety”, adds the Secretary of UILPA PP.
“All this while the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, and the Meloni Government appear to be suffering from chronic announcements, unable, or unwilling, to produce anything significant. Events like this demonstrate, moreover, the uselessness of any Operational Intervention Group (GIO) if the system is not secured first. What would the GIO have done? Would he have rushed to apply stitches to the scarred prisoner? Before repression, we need to think about prevention and to do so we need to strengthen the workforce beyond the propaganda of hirings that are not enough to cover turnover. Under current legislation, despite the hirings mentioned by the government, on 1 January 2025 the prison police workforce will have around 500 fewer units than a year earlier. This, let it be clear, is mainly due to the carelessness of the parliamentary majorities that have followed one another over at least the last 25 years, but which the current one is certainly not overcoming with the necessary speed and effectiveness. We immediately need to deflate prison density, increase the number of prison police officers and ensure healthcare. Prison is now a pressure cooker ready to explode.” concludes De Fazio.
stampa_-_palermo_speditio_punitiva.pdf
assaults_on_the_penitentiary_police_.pdf
