CGIL slams Nordio: "Unworthy comments about prisons, overcrowding in Foggia exceeds 200%"

The prison emergency must be addressed and resolved, not downplayed as the Minister of Justice continues to do with his shameful words. Not a day goes by without a news item confirming the urgent need for action. The cramped and overcrowded spaces in which inmates remain all day due to lack of activity, with the unbearable heat that makes them sweltering and exacerbates an already unbearable situation of discomfort, compromise the health of the prison population and those who work there. And the dramatic number of suicides is constantly rising.

This is the statement made by CGIL confederation secretary Daniela Barbaresi. For the union leader, "Minister Nordio's statements, during the questioning of overcrowding, which he has always underestimated, are unacceptable. He rejected any form of early release, calling it 'incitement to crime,' and went so far as to assert that there is no connection between overcrowding and suicides. These words," she reiterates, "are unworthy of a Minister of the Republic, and are matched by the deafening silence of the Minister of Health."

"The data," Barbaresi recalls, "speaks clearly: a historic record-high inmate population of 62,728, with an unsustainable average overcrowding of 135%, which far exceeds 200% in San Vittore, Brescia, Foggia, and Lucca. Since the beginning of the year, there have already been 39 suicides among inmates and two among prison officers." "Truly deflationary measures are needed immediately," he maintains, "because if overcrowding isn't resolved, no measure will be truly effective and impactful. We don't need new facilities, prefabricated modules, or abandoned barracks. We need adequate staffing: officers, healthcare workers, and educators."

"We need," concludes the CGIL confederal secretary, "to finally fully implement Article 27 of the Constitution, also heeding the President of the Republic's call to guarantee dignity to those in prison, and to discuss in Parliament existing proposals regarding alternative measures, which must truly be such, and early release. Measures are needed to finally put an end to the appalling, inhumane conditions in Italian prisons." ( Ansa )

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