Rome – “Dying in prison it has become such a common occurrence that every day there is a victim among the inmates: 70 deaths since the beginning of the year, of which 21 confirmed suicides, never so many.
The identikit of the suicide is: foreigner; average age 45; with drug addiction problems,
alcohol addiction or mental problems; one third of suicides are Italian; the crimes committed are
those related to domestic violence. It is now established that the first 20 days of imprisonment
they are the ones most at risk of suicide.
Over the last two years, data on deaths in prison tell us that the suicide rate in prisons is 40 times higher than the rate outside, but above all the general mortality rate is 50 times higher than the rate outside.
The latest suicide in Foggia of a 45-year-old, detained only since last Sunday, confirms our thesis and should shake us from the indifference, first and foremost political, that we have continued to record for years now”.
Thus Aldo Di Giacomo, general secretary of the S.PP. for whom "a prisoner who only after
a few days of detention he takes his own life, first of all he calls for special attention
on what didn't work.
The overcrowding that is widespread in almost all institutions is not enough to provide justifications, which are essentially to be found in the lack of adequate care and indispensable professional figures such as medical specialists, psychologists, psychiatrists, educators and cultural mediators. Therefore, it is not necessary to hide deaths in prison to lower the statistics of the "State massacre".
So the real reasons are those that we have been supporting for a long time and that must be resolved with a concrete and real interest that includes a plan of ideas and investments that will review the current penitentiary system".
Article published on March 19, 2025 - 20pm
