Tragedy in Poggioreale: two inmates die in just a few days.

Tragedy in Poggioreale: "People continue to die in prison": it's an ongoing massacre in Campania's prisons: two deaths in just a few days.

Another day of grief and outrage behind bars at Poggioreale Prison in Naples. Two inmates have died within a few days, bringing the dramatic situation in Campania's prisons back to the forefront of public attention, where the number of suicides and deaths from illness or neglect continues to rise alarmingly.

This is the news Samuele Ciambriello, Campania's guarantor of persons deprived of personal liberty, who in a note speaks bluntly of a real "silent massacre".

"People continue to die in and around prison," Ciambriello reports. "Since the beginning of the year, in Poggioreale alone, there have been two suicides, 25 suicide attempts, 202 acts of self-harm, three deaths from undetermined causes, and nine from natural causes. These numbers speak volumes about the desperation of those locked up and the strain of a prison system on the brink of collapse."

Two deaths in a few days

The latest death occurred overnight. A 41-year-old Italian inmate was found dead in his cell in the Livorno wing. The cause of death is still under investigation, and the body has been transferred to the morgue of the Second Polyclinic Hospital in Naples for an autopsy ordered by the judiciary.

A few days earlier, another inmate, Konte Allhaje, 27, of Gambian origin, died at the Cotugno prison in Naples after a weeks-long medical ordeal. Having entered prison in October 2024, the young man had been admitted to the Cardarelli prison on September 30th, then transferred to the Cotugno prison for a serious case of tuberculosis. He died on October 10, 2025. The Prosecutor's Office also ordered an autopsy.

“I wrote to the Regional Superintendent of the Penitentiary Administration, to the Director of the prison and to the health director,” Ciambriello explains, “to understand whether Konte was already suffering from any pathologies, whether the virus could have been incubated or whether there were diagnostic delays or lack of treatment during his detention.”

A system in collapse

The data released by the Guarantor speaks clearly: the Naples prison houses nearly double the inmates' capacity. Cells are overcrowded, staff are understaffed, and psychological and medical support are lacking.

Added to this is another problem: many medical appointments are cancelled due to lack of supplies, preventing inmates from receiving timely care.

"People also die due to a lack of prevention," Ciambriello continues. "People in prison, often already fragile, live in conditions that undermine their physical and mental health. We need a change of pace, or we'll continue to count deaths and suicide attempts every week."

A silent massacre in Campania

The two deaths in Poggioreale add to a string of suicides and tragedies that have been plaguing Campania's prisons since early 2025: from Secondigliano to Santa Maria Capua Vetere, from Avellino to Benevento, new episodes of self-harm or sudden death are recorded almost every month.

Just in September, a 32-year-old man committed suicide in Secondigliano by hanging himself with a sheet; a few weeks earlier, another inmate had been found dead in Santa Maria prison.
A figure that, as the Guarantor points out, makes Campania one of the Italian regions with the highest rate of suicides in prison.

The Guarantor's alarm cry

For Ciambriello, these are no longer "isolated cases," but a structural problem involving prison healthcare, personnel management, and social reintegration policies:

"Those who enter prison must not risk death. Detention cannot be a slow death sentence. Serious, immediate intervention is needed, one that puts human dignity at the center."

A bleak 2025 for Campania's prisons

2025 risks being remembered as one of the most tragic years for the regional prison system. In Poggioreale, Secondigliano, Santa Maria Capua Vetere, and Ariano Irpino, cases of mental distress, self-harm, and lack of adequate healthcare are increasing.

Every death, every desperate act behind bars, speaks of a collective failure, a human drama played out in silence, far from the public eye.

"You shouldn't die in prison," Ciambriello concludes. "But as long as the term re-education remains just a principle on paper, we will continue to mourn the men the state failed to save."