Chaos in Avellino prison: prisoners revolt during transfers, Sappe reports

Tension still behind the bars of the Avellino prison, where at dawn on Sunday a violent protest erupted during the transfer of eighteen inmates. According to the complaint of Sappe, the autonomous union of the penitentiary police, the situation quickly degenerated into riots that required the urgent intervention of the Carabinieri and the State Police to support the prison officers.

Also targeted by the rioters was a deputy commissioner of the Penitentiary Police, hit on the head by a bottle of water thrown by an inmate. The man suffered a wound that was judged to heal in three days. But it was not the only moment of tension: some inmates, awaiting transfer, tore down the gates of the passages and devastated the rooms in which they were confined, giving rise to a real internal riot.

The operations, in which special units of the Mobile Operations Group (GIO) also participated, concluded with an extraordinary search of the cells, where numerous unauthorized electronic devices were found: smartphones, USB cables and chargers were seized.

Solidarity with the officers involved comes from union representatives, who once again denounce the unsustainable climate in which law enforcement officers find themselves operating inside prisons. “The officers are a bulwark, but they cannot be left alone”, warns Marianna Argenio, regional vice-secretary of the Know.

Raffaele Troise, of Uilpa, calls for “iron rules and zero tolerance” to counter what he calls growing impunity among violent inmates. The request is clear: immediate, structural and decisive interventions are needed to restore safety and dignity to prison staff and the prison system itself. Because in prison, by now, the law risks succumbing to chaos every day.