Naples, August 19 (LaPresse) – "A 32-year-old Algerian inmate and a 23-year-old Syrian inmate, both accused of robbery, escaped overnight from the Poggioreale Prison in Naples. According to reports, the escape was something out of a movie, involving a hole made in the cell wall and scaling the perimeter wall. After the double escape in Bolzano last Sunday, this brings the number of escapes to four in just 36 hours, adding to a long list of illicit trafficking, various forms of violence, assaults on staff, rapes, suicides (53 inmates and 3 staff members since the beginning of the year), and much more.
Justice Minister Carlo Nordio should realize that, despite an overcrowding rate of 134%, inmates do not 'monitor' themselves, as he seems to suggest, but instead require immediate action by the government."
This was stated by Gennarino De Fazio, Secretary General of Uilpa Penitentiary Police, commenting on the escape of two inmates overnight from Poggioreale prison in Naples.
"At Poggioreale," De Fazio recalls, "there are 2,114 inmates crammed into 1,332 available spaces, with a 159% overcrowding rate, while only 660 Penitentiary Police officers are assigned—nearly half the needed 1,228. We challenge any system to function effectively under such conditions.
Nationally, there are 16,000 inmates beyond the available capacity and 18,000 officers missing from the Penitentiary Police, rising to 20,000 in total considering the large number of officers assigned to ministerial and non-penitentiary offices.
We repeat, immediate measures are needed to reduce inmate density, strengthen police staffing, and launch comprehensive reforms. The collapse of the system is becoming more and more evident," De Fazio concludes.
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