A literally fiery week was experienced by the prison police staff of the Spoleto prison who found themselves “dealing with fires set by prisoners in the cells”. And, explains Fabrizio Bonino, secretary of Umbria for the Autonomous Penitentiary Police Union, “there was even a near-tragedy when a non-EU prisoner, to obtain a higher dose of psychotropic drugs, set fire to the mattress of his cell, destroying all the furnishings and flooding the entire section and the floor above with toxic fumes.” From Bonino “Sappe’s applause to all the personnel who intervened who, with professionalism, a spirit of self-sacrifice who, despite the small contingent and the scarcity of resources, managed to put out the fire, save the prisoner and evacuate the Sections invaded by toxic fumes”. “During the operations, it was a penitentiary police inspector who reported the worst, who had to resort to emergency room treatment, and an assistant chief due to inhaling the fumes.” Bonino defines as “disconcerting the indifference of the central and peripheral administrations, insensitive to the countless reports of the union, which, on several occasions, has highlighted the very serious condition of overcrowding affecting the medium security sections and the age-old issue of the lack of staff which has arrived almost 40%. Shortage which should have been mitigated with the arrival of 38 units expected with the 2024 mobility but to date only 2 units have arrived to support the Spoleto department which continues to be harassed with the denial of thousands of days of overdue holidays, with exhausting hours and shifts and thousands of hours of overtime carried out even beyond the permitted limit and often not even paid”.
