A 34-year-old inmate took his own life last night in Poggioreale prison, Naples. The man hanged himself with a sheet and was found by prison police officers and medical personnel, who tried in vain to revive him.
The news was released by the guarantor of prisoners in Campania, Samuele Ciambriello, who highlighted that this is the first suicide in a prison in the region since the beginning of 2025. On January 7, another case occurred, but inside the Rems of San Nicola Baronia, in the province of Avellino.
The alarm on the conditions of Italian prisons
According to data reported by Ciambriello, since the beginning of the year in Italy there have been 16 suicides in prisons, while the total number of deaths in penitentiary institutions is 46, of which 19 are yet to be ascertained. In Campania, there have been four deaths in prison: two in Poggioreale, one in Secondigliano and one in Avellino.
The guarantor underlined the worsening of the situation compared to the past: “Suicides in prison have already doubled compared to the beginning of last year. In 2024, there were 83 cases, to which 18 deaths are added to be ascertained”.
Ciambriello then denounced the difficult living conditions in Italian detention facilities and the lack of adequate interventions by the institutions: "The increase in discomfort and suffering in penitentiary institutions is evident. The silence of the competent authorities and the Government on overcrowding and suicides in prison is unacceptable. We need concrete answers, also through the support of social support figures, especially for those facing their first detention, like the young man who died in Poggioreale".
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Comments (1)
The prisons are overcrowded and I don't dare to imagine what the inmates go through... they should release the inmates with light sentences or those who have already spent years in prison.
I believe that prison is not educational at all...indeed it is destructive.