"My dog lives 50 times better than a prisoner at Regina Coeli. He gets his kibble whenever he wants, receives care when he's sick, has water to drink and can go for a walk when he needs to." These are the words of Giuseppe Belcastro, president of the Rome Criminal Bar Association, during a press meeting to highlight "the unacceptable situation in Italian prisons" and in particular the "dramatic conditions" in Rome's penitentiaries. For Belcastro, what is "before our eyes is an issue that directly affects the integrity of the rule of law, respect for constitutional principles and the very quality of our democracy." On this issue, lawyers will go on strike from September 23 to 29. In recent weeks, a delegation from the Prison Observatory of the Rome Criminal Bar Association visited the Regina Coeli prison.
"The conditions in the penitentiary are inhumane," added lawyer Maria Brucale. "Prisoners have no refrigerators, bathrooms are adjacent to kitchens. During this summer of torrential heat, in the psychiatric care ward, windows are covered with plexiglass panels and temperatures were inhuman. People held in these conditions sleep in so-called 'clean' cells and must ask for water through the hatches from prison police officers. Every aspect of daily life becomes a source of suffering."
Criminal lawyers point out that since the beginning of the year there have been 46 suicides in Italian prisons. "We have conducted inspections, we went to the ministry," noted Belcastro. "The response was that in Rome they have reduced the staffing of the supervisory court by 8 units." The Rebibbia prison is having to deal with scabies and rats. "The issue of healthcare behind bars," said Francesco Bianchi, "also concerns the juvenile sector and the CPRs. The latter, moreover, are places where they won't even let us in to see how those held there are doing." On Saturday, in Florence, the conference 'The General State of Criminal Sentencing. Analysis of a Disaster' will be held.
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