The penitentiary police union SPP has sounded the alarm on the record number of suicides reported in Italy's prisons in the first two and a half months of the year which it described as an "endless state massacre".
"The state massacre has no end: with the 69-year-old Senegalese detainee who committed suicide in the Verona prison, we have had four suicides in three days, reaching a record of 18 suicides in two and a half months. This is unprecedented, even for the last terrible year, during which 90 suicides were reported," said Aldo Di Giacomo, the secretary general of the Penitentiary Police Union (SPP), on Monday, March 17.
According to Di Giacomo, the number of suicides among detainees is increasing, and the age of those taking their own lives is getting younger. In addition to the confirmed suicides, the union has reported a rising number of suspected cases, including the death of a 35-year-old Moroccan in Bologna and a 50-year-old African national (whose nationality is unknown) in Poggioreale, Napoli.
Overall, "out of 66 deaths, as many as 47 were due to 'other causes'" that have yet to be determined, said Di Giacomo.
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Growing number of foreigners, especially from North Africa
Di Giacomo reported in particular a 40 percent increase in the number of detainees with a psychiatric condition who should not be held in prison, including a rising number of foreigners, particularly from North Africa.
Such a trend would require "a plan for psychological support with the presence in prison of psychologists, psychiatrists and cultural mediators, as well as translators because the lack of communication has a huge impact" on the well-being of inmates, he noted.
The unionist denounced that the situation is out of control also in terms of attacks against personnel "the greatest emergency of all time", he said, with an average of 30 cases per week.
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Alternative measures to detention to promote integration
Di Giacomo also spoke about the fact that penitentiary police officials find an average of 20 cell phones in prison cells every week.
"The emergency has reached a point where the State is unable to guarantee the lives of the people it has in custody and of personnel," he warned.
"There are alternative measures (to detention) that, in addition to limiting repeat offenders, favor the reintroduction into society" of inmates. "These are not shortcuts or feel-good concessions, but a true constitutional duty," he concluded, calling for additional, effective tools and funding, as well as cooperation between local authorities and the penitentiary administration.
*Editor's note: If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org/
In Italy, In emergencies, eg. urgent and specific suicidal thoughts, please contact the Italy Suicide Hotline: 800860022.