“Real state of emergency”. The Italian system is bursting and the telons tighten the screwdriver to the compatriots
June 9 this year. Prison guards at Cagliari, Sardinia found that a 56-year-old prisoner hung himself in his cell. It was 33. Suicide in an Italian prison this year. This week, President Sergio Mattarella called the government to respond to the “dramatic” number of suicides behind the bars, calling it “a real state of emergency”.
In the face of overcrowding and inadequate psychiatric care The prison system is under huge pressure. Meanwhile, Melons presses even more. And on the occasion of the side door, he introduces other controversial records. Opponents of the Italian prime minister even talk about “political repression”.
At the beginning of June this year. The right -wing Italian government has adopted an extensive security decree that extends prison sentences, adds 14 new crimes and limits alternative penalties – sending more people to the system that is already in crisis.
Melons described the new law as a step towards public security that will protect the most sensitive social groups. “We act definitely against illegal occupations, accelerating evictions and protecting families, the elderly and honest property owners,” she said.
Critics, however, perceive this as political repression that will have harmful consequences.
– explains Vittorio Manes, a professor of criminal law at the University of Bologna.
Sergio Rastrelli, senator from the Meloni party brothers Italians, He rejected the fears that the new decree would send more people to prison. – It is not true that new types of crimes increase the population of prisoners; On the contrary, they set clear boundaries, thanks to which people intending to break the law understand that they will be held responsible – he argues.
Critical point
Rastrelli's theorem will be tried soon.
According to the Antigone NGO report, which monitors the conditions in prisons, over 62,000 were in Italian prisons in April. people, while these objects were designed for only 51 thousand. people.
Pressure also turns into social unrest. On June 4, in the Marassi prison in Genoa, about 200 prisoners started riots in response to the alleged sexual assault to a prisoner. The prisoners took over part of the prison, climbed fences and roofs and destroyed a lot of target. Two officers were injured, and the riots were supplied only after the police intervention – on the same day the Senate approved the final version of the Meloni decree regarding security.
The decree, which currently has become a law, also introduces riots in prisons as a new crime. Critics say that this measure may limit the possibility of reporting legitimate complaints regarding abuse or neglect in the form of organized prison protests.
– There are many examples in which prisoners' protests gradually attracted the attention of local authorities and led to positive changes – says Alessio Scandurra, author of the Antigone report. – Prison is a community that is not autonomous, but requires outside help. […] Sleeping protests threatens with even greater impoverishment of prisons and a reduction in their ability to respond to growing needs.
– They occur mainly in isolates, in places where there are fewer classes, fewer interactions, fewer interpersonal contacts – says Scandurra. – Therefore, the tendency to increase insulation is dangerous. The data clearly show that where there is more openness, the incidence of such acts is lower.
The spirit of the Torreregiani
Italy has already faced this challenge.
In 2013, the European Court of Human Rights issued a decision on the Torreregian He condemned Italy for the systemic violations of the ban on inhuman and degrading treatment. The case concerned seven prisoners detained for purposes with an area less than 3 sq m per person, which the court found inhuman.
The ruling forced Italy to improve the conditions and reduce overcrowding by expanding alternatives to deprivation of liberty. – We were all surprised by the reactions after the Torrengiani decision. It was as if suddenly everyone knew what to do, “said Scandurra.
For some time the reform brought results. The number of prisoners has fallen, and Italy has introduced an open goal system, enabling prisoners more freedom of movement.
Currently, the reform process is threatened. The Meloni government has tightened his penalties and clearly excluded tools such as shortening sentences or collective pardon, which was also used by the deceased Prime Minister and leader of Forza Italia Silvio Berlusconi.
– Amnestie and pardon are not consistent with the vision of a modern state that the government has – emphasizes Rastrelli, arguing that such funds only bring short -term relief without solving deeper system problems.
– he adds.
Scandurra notes that the Meloni government has adopted a different approach from its predecessors regarding the crisis situation in prison. – He was always quite resistant, even during institutional visits in prisons – he assesses. – Traditionally, attention was paid not only to the working conditions of the staff, but also to the conditions of prisoners. Currently visiting officials often avoid talking to staff and even entering prison troops.
Long -term plans, an upcoming crisis
Last year, the Meloni government issued a decree on prisons, committing to reducing overcrowding in prisons by employing more guards and building new facilities, including the appointment of the so -called Extraordinary Commissioner for building a prisoner who will supervise new projects and renovations.
Critics say, however, that These promises do not take into account the urgent nature of the situation.
“In the face of such a crisis, talks about the construction of new prisons mean proposing solutions that will not help today's prisoners,” says Scandurra. – It transfers the problem to the future, and it is deeply discouraging.
Manes called the government's approach to the crisis situation “the type of election marketing”, adding that “the problems will not be solved by the construction of a prisoner, just as Covid-19 was not defeated by the construction of hospitals.”
Rastrelli, who was also a rapporteur of the decree about prisons, defends him, explaining that the government's approach to overcrowding prisons is structural, and is not a reflex response to a crisis situation.
– All previous efforts in Italy have failed because they were based on temporary tactics of “emptying prisoners”, which only delay returning problems – he explains. – Our goal is to implement structural funds by allocating financial resources for training prison officers, improving infrastructure and analysis of the population of prisoners.
Scandurra adds that Recididists are the real cause of overcrowding.
– he argues.
– Criminal law deals with society's failures. It does not build civic coexistence – he continues. – We already know the solutions. They lie in ministers' drawers. Only political will is missing.
