Overcrowding at Bellizzi Irpino prison: UIL FP Avellino reports collapse and calls for action.

Avellino – The UIL FP Penitentiary Police of Avellino highlights overcrowding at the Bellizzi Irpino prison. According to our data, the facility houses approximately 690 inmates, compared to its regulatory capacity of 503.

The overflow rate is 187, equivalent to an overcrowding rate of around 136%. This situation highlights a context in which the daily management of spaces, treatment activities, and security measures is becoming more complex, with repercussions for both inmates and staff. Particular attention is being paid to the De Vivo wing, which provides reduced custody. For years, it was a benchmark among Campania institutions, a model of concrete re-education; today, it seems like a memory at risk of fading.

With numbers approaching capacity, the pressure on available places could jeopardize the department's unique character. The UIL FP describes De Vivo as a facility that has represented a model of rehabilitation. We ask that assignments remain tied to the requirements and established pathways, in compliance with the assessments of the competent authorities.

Attention must be focused on the entire facility and its detention systems, each with its own rules and needs. A high influx of prisoners can make it more challenging to ensure separation between different types of prisoners, and measures are required to ensure such separation. Officers carry out their work every day with professionalism and a sense of duty; working in contexts with a high influx of prisoners entails a significant burden of responsibility and tension, which can impact shifts, rest periods, vacations, and the psychological, physical, and family well-being of those on duty.

For this reason, staff protection must remain at the center of discussions with the Administration. The UIL FP Penitentiary Police therefore calls on the Department of Penitentiary Administration and the Ministry of Justice to carefully evaluate the situation at the Irpinia prison. "A prison also reflects the way a country interprets its own Constitution."