Coronavirus, prisons in revolt. You died in Modena, devastation in San Vittore

Rome, March 9, 2020 – The emergency coronavirus continues to inflame prisons. The riots multiply exponentially and at the penitentiary institutes of Modena, Pavia, Naples, Salerno, Vercelli, Frosinone, CremonaFoggia, Milan, Palermo and Reggio Emilia, while the situation remains tense in all prisons. TO Modena the most explosive situation: they count 6 prisoners dead and four other seriously injured in reserved prognosis e 18 intoxicated. The tension in the Milanese prison of San Vittorewhere the inmates climbed onto the roof. It’s at Verona and Alessandria two inmates died of overdoses from psychotropic drugs, stolen from the infirmaries during the protests.

Everyone protests against the ban on having talks in person with family members.

Foggia, chase the escaped

In the prison of Foggia some prisoners had escaped, being blocked shortly after outside the penitentiary institution by the police. As far as we learn the prisoners have torn a gate of the ‘block house’, the area that separates them from the street. Many inmates are climbing the gates of the prison perimeter. On the spot police, carabinieri and army soldiers. Some escaped have tried to hiding in sheds of industrial and commercial activities. The police force is monitoring all the large commercial activities in the neighborhood. Some supermarkets of the area have been closed for security.

From the street adjacent to the prison they can be seen paper and rags that were set on fire attach yourself to the grates of a window and jets of water to contain the flames. There are at least fifteen inmates visible on the roof who scream and raise their arms to the sky, most of them with the hood of the sweatshirt raised, or the face hidden by a scarf.

Milan, infirmary devastated in San Vittore

Since this morning there has been an uprising also in the prison of San Vittore and some inmates climbed onto the roof of the district house shouting ‘freedom, freedom’. Police cars arrived on the scene. In particular, the prisoners of the ‘La Nave’ ward went up to the roof. Anger has risen to the point we speak of ‘devastation’ of the infirmary and they have opened lockers and safes: as has happened elsewhere the danger is that they swallow the methadone used to appease heroin addiction.

Palermo closed the streets

Attempt to escape from Ucciardone prison in Palermo. Some detainees in protest against the stop to visits to prison for the coronavirus emergency attempted to climb over the prison fence to try to escape. The attempt was blocked by the prison police. The prison is surrounded by police and riot police. Even the walls of the
prison are manned. The streets around the old Bourbon prison are closed. Yesterday evening the protest had also taken place at Pagliarelli, the second prison in Palermo.

Modena, dead and transferred

The number of prisoners who died after the March 8 riot rises to six. At least one other prisoner is reportedly dying. They would all be overdose deaths. Protests began on Sunday around lunchtime, when some inmates set fire to the premises of one of the prison pavilions.
Over the hours, the situation has deteriorated to the point of turning into a real guerrilla war, with the arrival in the structure of Strada Sant’Anna of police officers and military officers in riot gear who attempted to quell the revolt. Dozens of prisoners have been blocked and transferred to other facilities. However, some inmates stormed the infirmary before surrendering, stealing packs of methadone and other drugs. And precisely drug abuse should be the cause of deaths. Among the injured people, also a prison officer and seven health workers who ended up in hospital but with minor injuries.

Data: 140% overcrowding

“The Coronavirus emergency comes after a year of prison suffering, in which, especially in Lombardy, intra-wall healthcare has often been inadequate (in numbers, in services, in responses). A year of suffering that has affected both prisoners and agents, and all prison staff, who get nervous about this emergency, “writes Valeria Verdolini, president of the association on Facebook Antigone Lombardy. Verdolini points out: “on February 29th they were present in Italy 61,230 prisoners, against a regulatory capacity of 50,931 seats, with overcrowding over 120% “.

“In orange areas of the Dpcm there are 14,449 restricted people, 23.6% of all prisoners in Italy, distributed as follows: 2365 Emilia Romagna; 8,720 Lombardy (regional overcrowding here rises to 140%, with peaks in Como of 195%), 238 Marche, 1751 Piedmont, 1375 Veneto. They are numbers distributed in narrow spaces, in cells designed for living spaces with fewer presences. Overcrowding means the third bed, and spending most of the day for a few cm above the threshold of 3 square meters per person “.