A 30-year-old inmate dies after inhaling gas from a stove

ROME An Italian prisoner, not yet 30 years old, was found lifeless in his cell around 5pm yesterday, after having inhaled gas from the camping stove used by prisoners for cooking. This was announced by the UILPA penitentiary police. «We don’t know whether it was a suicide or, given that he was a drug addict, an attempt to obtain hallucinogenic effects that ended badly – ​​declares Gennarino De Fazio, UILPA general secretary – There have been 101 deaths in penitentiaries since the beginning of the year, of which as many as 45 by suicide, in what is a real carnage. Furthermore, the 4 members of the Penitentiary Police Force who took their own lives must also be added to this tragic bulletin.” De Fazio recalls that, “as long as these are the conditions, we will not tire of comparing prisons to theaters of war. Not only the number of victims, the unspeakable violence that is perpetrated there, the suffering that is inflicted there, but also the general promiscuity and the ordinary use of tools and objects such as camping stoves, do nothing but bring to mind places of guerrilla warfare not too in step with the times – he underlines – While we talk about ecological and digital transition, in penitentiaries it seems like we are in a prehistoric era”. The death «heavily raises the issue of drug-addicted prisoners, who should follow alternative and effective recovery paths, also finding the necessary care and who, in the current situation of prisons, are instead very close to a chimera – adds the trade unionist – If you want at least try to limit the massacre by breaking down every record in the count of deaths in prison, the Meloni Government takes note of the unprecedented emergency and launches, truly and immediately, a decree-law to allow the deflation of the prison density, there are over 14 thousand prisoners in excess of the useful capacity, extraordinary and accelerated hiring in the Penitentiary Police Force, lacking at least 18 thousand units, and the strengthening of inframural healthcare, especially of a psychiatric nature, in a very profound crisis. At the same time, the executive and Parliament initiate structural and reorganization reforms. We are in a massacre”, concludes De Fazio.