Stop Prison Suicides, Social Emergency Says Mattarella

Rome: Italian authorities and politicians must do all they can to stop a spate of prison suicides in Italy, President Sergio Mattarella said. “The problem of suicides in prisons is dramatic and has not shown signs of stopping for too long: it is a real social emergency that we must question ourselves about in order to put an immediate end to all this,” the head of State told the Head of the Department of Penitentiary Administration and a delegation from the Penitentiary Police at the Quirinale presidential palace in Rome.

According to Ansa News Agency, a young man died in hospital last Tuesday night after hanging himself in his cell at Milan’s San Vittore Prison Monday morning, the 36th inmate to take his own life this year, prison union UILPA said Wednesday. The union issued another call to reduce prison overcrowding, increase staffing, and improve conditions in Italy’s jails.

Gennarino De Fazio, secretary of the UILPA Penitentiary Police union, stated, “22 years old, a non-EU citizen, hanged himself on Monday morning in the San Vittore prison in Milan.” He added that the young man was immediately rescued and taken to the hospital in desperate condition but succumbed to his injuries. De Fazio highlighted the urgent need for action as this incident marked the 36th suicide of an inmate since the beginning of the year, along with two operators, describing the situation as a “de facto death penalty that strikes randomly.”

De Fazio further emphasized the severe conditions faced by both inmates and prison staff, stating, “Inmates and operators are united by the ongoing trampling of the rule of law that inflicts on the former widely illegal and often inhumane methods of detention and on the latter working conditions unworthy of a republic that bases its democracy precisely on work.” He pointed out that the prisons are overcrowded by 16,000 inmates over their maximum capacity and the Penitentiary Police are short of 18,000 units, with resources being diverted to ministerial and extra-penitentiary offices.

“The situation is explosive and is increasingly deteriorating,” De Fazio concluded, stressing the need for immediate and tangible interventions to address the crisis and prevent further loss of life.