Literally a week of fire experienced by the Penitentiary Police staff of the Spoleto Prison House.
Fabrizio Boninosecretary of Umbria for the Autonomous Penitentiary Police Union, reports how the officers found themselves having to face important critical events due to fires set by prisoners to cell furnishings. In one case there was even a near tragedy when one of these, in an attempt to obtain a higher dose of psychotropic drugs than the one prescribed for him, he set his mattress on fire, flooding the entire section and the floor above with toxic fumes.
The trade unionist addresses “SAPPE’s applause to all the personnel who attended who, with professionalism, a spirit of self-sacrifice and despite the small number of troops available and the scarcity of means, managed to put out the fire, save the prisoner and temporarily evacuate the sections invaded by toxic fumes. However, during the operations, a penitentiary police inspector suffered the worst, who had to seek treatment in the emergency room, and a chief assistant due to fume inhalation”.
Bonino defines “the indifference of the central and peripheral Administration is disconcerting, totally insensitive to the countless reports from the Union which, on several occasions, has highlighted the very serious condition of overcrowding and the age-old issue of staff shortage, which has now reached almost 40%. Shortage which should have been mitigated with the arrival of 38 units expected with the 2024 mobility but to date only 2 have arrived to support the Spoleto department, which continues to be harassed with the denial of thousands of days of overdue holidays, working hours and exhausting shifts and hours and hours of overtime beyond the limit allowed by regulations, often not even paid. In the meantime, the new agents who leave the courses but those who should then be transferred to the offices affected by the mobility plan such as Spoleto, it is not known where they will end up…”.
Full support for the protest from the Spoleto Penitentiary Police comes from Donato Capecegeneral secretary of SAPPE: “We will take action at the Department of Penitentiary Administration to ensure that the just protests of colleagues from Spoleto and the entire Region receive attention and consequent measures. We hope that the leaders of the DAP and the regional penitentiary authority of Florence, also responsible for Umbria after the unfortunate decision to close the one in Perugia, will intervene quickly and necessary measures are urgently adopted to safeguard the security of the prison. Every day we receive news of attacks on the Corps serving in the country’s penitentiary institutions, who are increasingly bruised, injured, humiliated and victims of violence by a part of the detained population who have no hesitation in lashing out against those in prison who represent the State.” .
