Poggioreale: 29-Year-Old Prisoner Dies in Prison

There is another name and surname in the now long list of deaths in prison. The latest tragic death is that of a prisoner of only 29 years old that occurred today in Poggioreale and raises serious concerns about the management of the Italian prison system.

According to the Secretary General of the Penitentiary Police Union (S.PP.), Aldo Di Giacomo, we cannot consider this death as “natural” or caused by “other reasons”. It concerns a young prisoner of only 29 years old, evidently underweight due to refusal of food, who, after a short period of hospitalization, died in his cell.

Since the beginning of the year, the number of deaths in Italian penitentiaries has already reached 61, of which 36 are classified as “other causes” (in some cases still to be determined) and 25 are suicides. The critical situation in Poggioreale, where the fifth death has already been recorded in the Neapolitan prison, with three confirmed cases of suicide in less than three months, highlights the gravity of the situation.

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Secretary Di Giacomo emphasizes that this situation reinforces the alarm raised by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella regarding the increase in suicides among prisoners, together with the need to provide adequate health support within prisons.

This support is crucial and its lack has led the Head of State to highlight how requests and needs fall on them, overloading them with tasks that do not fall within their institutional responsibilities.

Faced with the worsening of the emergency in the penitentiary system, the union has decided to start a new tour of the main prisons to meet and listen to colleagues, and to relaunch the mobilization. This determination is fueled by the awareness that they are not listened to by those who, by institutional role, should do so.

The secretary concludes by saying that it is no longer enough to express condolences and anger. It is essential to act decisively to address the crisis. Otherwise, Minister Nordio should be agreed when he defined suicides as an “unsolvable issue” and a “disease to be ascertained”.

However, the union does not accept this perspective, since the State has the responsibility of those it finds itself in charge of, in addition to having to guarantee acceptable working conditions for its servants.