Milan: A young man died in hospital Tuesday night after hanging himself in his cell at Milan’s San Vittore Prison Monday morning, marking the 36th inmate suicide this year, according to prison union UILPA.
According to Ansa News Agency, the 22-year-old non-EU citizen was found hanging in his cell and was immediately taken to the hospital in critical condition. Despite rescue efforts, he succumbed to his injuries on Tuesday night. Gennarino De Fazio, secretary of the UILPA Penitentiary Police union, highlighted the urgent need for reforms, citing overcrowding, insufficient staffing, and inadequate conditions in Italy’s prisons.
“This is the 36th suicide of an inmate since the beginning of the year,” De Fazio stated, emphasizing that this grim statistic also includes two prison operators. He described these deaths as a “de facto death penalty” that indiscriminately affects both inmates and staff, pointing to systemic issues within the penal system.
De Fazio criticized the current state of Italy’s prisons, which house 16,000 more inmates than their maximum capacity. He also noted a shortage of 18,000 Penitentiary Police officers, a problem exacerbated by the reassignment of agents to non-prison roles. He called for immediate and concrete actions to address these challenges.
“The situation is explosive and is increasingly deteriorating,” De Fazio concluded, urging for swift intervention to uphold the rule of law and improve conditions for both inmates and prison staff.
