Palma, director of Poggioreale prison: 'It's a problem for all of society'

"Those who have committed a crime (punishment) must be in prison, for them the answer must be prison and what about the conditions? If they are good, good, if they are not, it's fine? They have committed a punishment! In this sense, the attention of the institutions, of the third highest office of the State, leads society to be aware of the fact that prison is not only a problem for prison workers but is a problem for society". This is how Maria Luisa Palma, director of the Poggioreale prison since 20 December, the largest in Campania and one of the most subject to the problem of overcrowding, comments on the visit of the President of the Chamber. Roberto Fico stayed in the institution for about two hours meeting some inmates, then took part in the presentation of the book by Antonio Mattone, of the Community of Sant'Egidio, "and now the ball is in my court" and left the prison shortly before 14 pm after giving Palma a medal from the Chamber of Deputies in memory of the visit. “In some pavilions things work better, they respect the standards guaranteed by Europe; in other places there are too many people per cell and that is not good”, observes the president of the Chamber providing some details: the current presence is of 2.200 inmates out of a space available for 1690. In the past there were even 3 thousand. Among the projects that will be realized there is also that of pizza chef courses in a real pizzeria structure inside the prison and the possibility of attending ad hoc training courses outside, in the premises of the historic center of Naples.