Hours of tension in the Ariano Irpino prison, where the Penitentiary Police personnel seized drugs from the private parts of a family member admitted to prison for a meeting with his detained son and other inmates barricaded themselves in their cells to hinder a cell search by the Agents.
Tiziana Guacci, regional secretary for Campania of the Independent Penitentiary Police Union, reconstructed the facts: "Late yesterday morning, the mother of an inmate entered the interview reception area at Ariano Irpino prison in order to have a face-to-face meeting with her detained son.
With the support of the Benevento Canine Units, the woman in the waiting room was flagged by the drug-sniffing dog Susy and, subjected to a thorough check by the female Penitentiary Police staff, extracted from her private parts three cylindrical packages wrapped in transparent cellophane containing hashish.
The woman has been arrested. But this isn't the only critical incident at the Irpinia detention facility: "Also yesterday morning," the union representative adds, "during a cell search, the inmates barricaded themselves in their cells to prevent the operation.
Intervention with shields and helmets was necessary to restore order and security. Those inmates were placed in solitary confinement pending transfer.'' For Donato Capece, secretary general of SAPPE, ''what happened in the Ariano Irpino prison highlights the ongoing tensions and critical issues in Italy's prison system.
The situation is particularly alarming for the Penitentiary Police, which pays heavily in terms of stress and operations for these serious and continuous critical episodes.
The current appalling situation in which the nation's prison officers are forced to work is absurd and unbelievable and deserves urgent action from the heads of the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Penitentiary Administration, including the adoption of adequate measures to guarantee the safety and physical integrity of the officers who work in prison, who are increasingly at the centre of serious, violent, and unacceptable attacks.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Choose the social channel you want to subscribe to