“The main cause of death in prison is suicide”: demonstration outside the court on Thursday

Genoa. “The drama of suicides behind bars must stop: urgent interventions are needed, we cannot continue to die in jail and prison. The National Conference of Territorial Guarantors of Persons Deprived of Personal Liberty has organized a moment of reflection on suicides and deaths in prison on 18 April, which will involve all the regional, provincial and municipal Guarantors, with initiatives and demonstrations in several Italian cities”.

Thus begins the joint press note from various rights associations announcing the demonstration under the Genoese court for Thursday the 18th from 12pm. The Ligurian Regional Criminal Chamber «Ernesto Monteverde», the ACAT Savona Genova OdV Association, the ACAT Savona Genova OdV Association, Veneranda Compagnia di Misericordia OdV, Arci Liguria, Arci Genova, Sc’Art APS, Gli Amici di Zaccheo OdV, the Catholic chaplains of the Genoese institutes, Associazione Barre di Zucchero, Associazione Seconda Chance, Agorà Soc. Coop. Social, Regional Conference of Volunteering Justice, Necessary Theatre.

“In Genoa the municipal guarantor Stefano Sambugaro and the regional guarantor Doriano Saracino have promoted an initiative which will see together lawyers, prison workers, trade unions, university professors, volunteers, chaplains and ministers of religion and associations to participate in a demonstration on the steps of Palazzo di Justice, Thursday 18 April at 12pm, with reading of the names of prisoners who died from suicide, illness and other causes yet to be ascertained. The prison police officers who took their own lives this year will also be remembered, so as not to forget their stories and the drama of their families.”

During the event, a flash mob will be held and an appeal elaborated by the National Conference of Territorial Guarantors will be read, and addressed to the Ministry of Justice, the Penitentiary Administration, the members of the Chamber and Senate and civil society, “in one month exact from the declarations of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who, upon receiving the prison police force, reiterated the importance of urgent interventions to curb the emergency of suicides in prison”.