This testimony weighs heavily in the major trial into the violence that occurred on April 6, 2020, in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison. In court, Pasquale Colucci, commander of the Penitentiary Police and one of the defendants, admitted witnessing the beatings of inmates in the Nile unit without intervening to stop them.
"I saw officers hitting, slapping, and beating them with truncheons. Some people lost their tempers," he declared, explaining that he had only verbally urged some to calm down. But he did nothing more. "They were brief incidents; I didn't notice any relentlessness, and the staff was exasperated," he added, taking responsibility for his own omission. These words provoked an immediate reaction from prosecutor Daniela Pannone, who pressed the defendant, emphasizing his role as the highest-ranking officer present at the facility that day.
According to Colucci, the tense environment following the protests and the barricading of inmates in the preceding days affected the clarity of the decisions. "I didn't clearly analyze what I had to do, but I'm here to take responsibility," he said. This defense, however, is intertwined with a fierce clash between the differing versions provided by the other defendants, starting with prison commander Gaetano Manganelli.
Colucci maintained that he had no operational command of the search, declaring that he was subordinate to Manganelli and that he did not order the entry of the Operational Intervention Group officers with helmets and batons. This reconstruction contradicts previous reports by Manganelli himself and the former regional superintendent, who had attributed Colucci a central decision-making role.
A fragmented picture emerges, with responsibility being passed around among the prison administration's top brass in what is turning into a judicial free-for-all. Meanwhile, the documents still contain images and testimonies of inmates forced to kneel, beaten, and humiliated—episodes that have shocked public opinion and opened one of the most controversial chapters in recent Italian prison history.
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Comments (1)
Colucci's testimony seems complicated and somewhat confusing, as there are many different versions and responsibilities are being passed around. It's difficult to determine who is truly responsible for what happened in prison.