The Criminal Chamber of Marsala takes to the streets for the “Oratorical Marathon – Stop suicides in prison”. He did it in Piazzetta Addolorata, in the historic center, as part of a national program announced by the Union of Italian Criminal Chambers, in order to raise public awareness of the serious phenomenon of suicides in prison which from January 2024 to today has been 45 cases the number rose to 49 in a few hours. And who knows what is happening right now as we write. 2022 was the record year, with 85 confirmed suicides in prisons. But 2023 and 2024 continue to see impressive numbers.
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“Being here today is important because we have to get to the heart of people and raise public awareness of the phenomenon of both suicides in prison and overcrowding – says the President of the local Criminal Chamber, Francesca Frusteri -. From Cagliari to Rome, passing through Marsala and other Italian cities, to also say that politicians are deaf to the continuous requests for urgent intervention on these rampant problems. The latest case of suicide in prison occurred in Caltanissetta. So it’s time to take action. We criminal lawyers can urge politicians to take initiatives and clemency measures, the only ones at the moment are amnesty and pardon, such as to stem and stop these phenomena”. “There is a proposal for now by the Honorable Roberto Giachetti that provides for the increase of the days of early release for each semester, from 45 to 60. It is certainly not a solution but it could give relief to those who have short sentences to serve. We have been fighting for years to encourage the granting of alternative measures by the surveillance magistrates”.
Among the various interventions, those of the lawyer from Mazara Salvatore Giorgi, also an expert in juvenile law (“the civilization of a state is measured by how the state protects the least and those who suffer prison for a crime that they rightly have to pay for are, but must not suffer inhumane conditions”), the past president of the Lilybetan criminal lawyers Diego Tranchida (“Shedding light on how prisons are reduced”), of the lawyer Marta Carveni representing the local Civil Chamber (“Many suicides occur upon entering prison, because they find inhumane conditions, others occur at the end of their sentence, perhaps because they see no future”). Also present were the young lawyers of AIGA – Italian Association of Young Lawyers and VBishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Mazara: “As a priest I look at the human aspects because in 15 years of episcopate I have always entered places of punishment first in Marsala and then in Castelvetrano – states Domenico Mogavero -. We judge the condemned to be all unrepentant, people who have made mistakes, and despite all the constitutional norms, we cannot see in them the hope of rehabilitation. The State considers prisoners to be scraps of humanity”.
Also present at the event was the regional coordinator of Uilpa Penitenziari, Gioacchino Veneziano: “Without staff, the safety and protection of the prisoner cannot be guaranteed; it often happens that there is only one policeman to control 200 prisoners; if we had been more, we would probably have saved more human lives. Riots and attacks against prison staff are proof of poor management. In 36 years, I have seen the prison system change. Today, they are full of drug addicts who should go to communities that don’t work, of psychiatric patients who should be treated in special facilities, as well as migrants, 30% of the inmates, who are non-EU citizens and who could serve their sentence in their country of origin”.
