Asinara, the former prison director: «I'll tell you about the island in the years of Totò Riina and the other mafia bosses»

In Uta prison he was the penultimate director . Gianfranco Pala , born in 1958, retired for five years, before arriving in the largest penitentiary in Sardinia he toured almost all the island's facilities . Including Asinara, during the years of the State-Mafia war, after the Capaci and Via D'Amelio massacres, in May and July 1992.

In the cells facing the sea, Pala met the most ferocious boss-assassins: from Totò Riina to Antonio Madonia . It was August of that same year.

With the interview with the former director of Uta, the in-depth analysis of Unionesarda.it dedicated to prisons ends. Three episodes began with the Guarantor for prisoners, Irene Testa , and continued with the founding member of the “Socialism Rights Reforms” association, Maria Grazia Caligaris .

Doctor Pala, do you know that Italian directors don't want to move to Sardinia?

"I know. Unfortunately I know. There was already a crisis regarding the assignment of management positions when I was still working."

In your opinion why?

«The problem is the isolation of Sardinia: the quality of the prisons has nothing to do with it, our structures are no worse than those on the continent. On the contrary: they are much more liveable, you work better here than outside. Normally, a prison director wins the competition between the ages of 35 and 40: this means that he often has a wife and children. Moving your family isn't easy. Sardinia is beautiful to come on holiday. Add to this the fact that Sardinians struggle to win competitions."

Do you know the reason?

«It's numerical. The Sardinians who participate in the tests are many fewer than the Neapolitans, the Apulians and the Sicilians who have a long tradition in this field. It is almost always the candidates from the South who come first in the selections."

Did it go better for her?

«I won the competition in 1986. First job in Cuneo. But within a few years I returned to Sardinia: I did Badu and Carros, then Asinara, Alghero, Mamone and Cagliari, when the Buoncammino prison was still open."

A story you still remember?

«There are many. But probably the strongest was the re-opening of Fornelli, in Asinara, which in August '92 became the wing of 41 bis, the hard prison."

Fourteen years had passed since the coffee pot revolt, when the inmates rebelled against the then director Luigi Cardullo, who was later condemned together with his wife Leda Sapio, called the Tsarina, for the bribes taken with the never concluded reconstruction. What do you remember in particular about the reopening?

«When the mafiosi arrived, 154 of them in the space of three-four days, the prison administration had forgotten to send reinforcements of agents. Twenty-six of us supervised those 154 bosses."

Fear?

"Voltage".

In what year did you arrive at Asinara?

«In 1991, when it already existed, there was only the agricultural penal colony with “common” prisoners. The parenthesis of political prisoners, under maximum security, in the years of the Red Brigades, of the armed struggle and of black terrorism, had also been archived. Indeed, when I was sent, it seemed that the prison would close at any moment, there was already talk of a park. Then in 1992, with the massacres of Capaci and Via D'Amelio, the State decided to reuse Fornelli".

Who told her that her stay on the island would last a long time?

«The head of the penitentiary administration, Nicolò Amato, came».

What did he tell her?

«To reopen. And he gave me carte blanche in the organization. He specified: "Do what you want but you have a month."

What was there to fix?

"All. After the coffee pot revolt, the works to rearrange Fornelli were never completed."

How did you organize the work?

«I hired about ten inmates and four officers. In twenty-eight days they finished everything."

Fornelli reopened in August 1992. Up until then, how many inmates were there?

"One hundred".

Were the 154 bosses taken to Asinara all together?

«No, they arrived in groups of fifty, by helicopter».

Who was the first to hit the ground?

«Giuseppe Madonia, the brother of the mafia boss Nino».

Did you say something to each other?

"Nothing. But while they arrived, I studied the files. Madonia was accused of ninety-six or ninety-seven murders, I don't remember exactly now. I thought about it: "Of course he won't make it to one hundred here".

Who else landed?

«The camorrista Francesco Schiavone, the Sandokan of Naples».

And Totò Riina.

«He was being humble. The resigned. I was young then. That August day I was wearing a pair of jeans and a military shirt. When he saw me again after twenty-four hours, he greeted me in a helpful tone. He told me he didn't know I was the director, otherwise he would have greeted me differently."

Has Riina ever caused you trouble?

"Never. Leoluca Bagarella, the brother-in-law, was harsher."

Is it true that Riina's room was called "the disco" because the lights were always on?

"Yes".

Once they landed on the island, what was the first order you gave to mafiosi and Camorra members?

"Everyone was obliged to remove necklaces, rings and bracelets."

All in gold?

«Yes, they filled a whole box with cigarettes».

Could the bosses get out of the 41 bis wing?

"Two hours per day".

Riina, on the other hand, had the obligation to isolate herself even during the day.

"Yes".

Exaggerated treatment even for a merciless multiple murderer?

«Not an ideal treatment. However, after the Capaci and Via D'Amelio massacres, the State chose an exemplary punishment against the boss of bosses. The state was at war with the mafia. Then 41 bis could have made sense. Today it is an excessive measure."

In the years that you spent at Asinara, how many bosses arrived?

"About 250 and around fifty chose to repent and collaborate with justice."

How did repentance happen?

«They called me and I informed Dia, the district anti-mafia directorate. At the time it was led by Gianni De Gennaro who arrived the same day or at most the following day. He spoke to the boss in question and then decided whether or not to initiate protection."

Who was the first to repent?

«Santino Di Matteo».

After the decision to collaborate, how much time was left for Fornelli?

«Very few hours. He was moved immediately."

In a secret place?

«The repentants took them away by helicopter. Not even we in the prison administration knew the destination."

Was life with 41 bis all behind closed doors?

"Yes. Even outdoor time was in a courtyard. The inmates of the penal colony, however, could also swim in the sea. They were free to move from dawn until one hour before sunset."

What jobs did the "common" prisoners do?

«There were those who cut wood, those who took care of the vegetable gardens. The shepherd even had a fin in which to take shelter or rest when he took his flock to pasture."

Did the bosses' relatives go to Asinara?

"Yes".

What do you remember about them?

«They were very closed, hesitant. Watch out. They were afraid of everything, especially of being intercepted."

Which relatives landed most often?

«Those of the Neapolitan bosses. The family members of Sandokan Schiavone, but also those of Luigi Vollaro, another very powerful member of the Camorra."

Riina's relatives?

"They only came once."

When does the 41 bis experience at Asinara end?

"In 1998".

Was she still there?

"Always".

How was the end?

"Difficult. Not all the staff wanted to leave. Those who hoped to stay boycotted the work of those who were following the order to dismantle."

Were you able to get them to agree?

«In the end everyone collaborated. We closed Asinara in a month, in a climate of great unity."

Healthcare in prison.

«Until the Bindi reform of the 1990s, the doctors who looked after prisoners were part of the prison administration. Then they moved on to the National Health Service."

Better before or now?

«Before, without a doubt. The local health authorities are like bandwagons, the times for accessing care have become much longer."

When you were director, who were the most fragile inmates?

«AIDS patients. But if the ASL turned a deaf ear, they tried to remedy the situation. And we did it. The situation is worsening year after year. Today, healthcare is in poor condition even outside prisons."

Is there a prison geography for crime?

"Absolutely. In Cagliari, drug addicts have always represented the majority of inmates. In Nuoro, at least in the years in which I worked, the detainees were people linked to the Kidnapping Company or accused of murder. And those did have the support of their families. Drug addicts, on the other hand, are not well liked even by their relatives who, on the contrary, tend to abandon them."

It should be added that recovery communities have never been enough.

«The communities are missing but the drug addicts themselves, even when they could, are the first to not want to go there, because there is greater discipline there than in prisons. The most difficult inmates to manage are those who use drugs. They don't have a stable mood, so they experience difficulties in relationships. They often have hepatitis, so they cannot be assigned to delivering food and cleaning kitchens. They are also too physically fragile to be employed in the Mof, in the ordinary maintenance of buildings, as carpenters, blacksmiths, bricklayers or painters."

Loneliness of prisoners: isolated case or constant?

«Unfortunately a constant. In Uta, out of 540 prisoners, at least 120-130 have never received a visit from a relative. Never a call. Neither money nor a package. There is a misery that can be cut into slices. For another 150, the family members made themselves heard every time the Pope died."

Cell phone use in cell?

«Not admitted. Never, under any circumstances."

TV?

«As much as they want. The TVs are on 18 hours a day."

Have the inmates ever boycotted it?

«No, never, I have always had excellent relationships. Even with the prison police."

That time it was too harsh?

«Sometimes, you have to be; others you need to be flexible. With bullies, it's essential to be tough, otherwise they'll eat pasta off your head."

The best penitentiary in Sardinia?

«I have never worked in Oristano and Tempio, but the Nuoro prison is where I was best. Good structure, discreet administrative service, collaborative doctors, quality police. I have a special memory of Marshal Franco Collu."

Psychiatric patients: another emergency.

«Undoubtedly. Their place would be in the Rems, but in Sardinia there is only one, in Capoterra, and it has just sixteen places. But if the prison requests hospitalization of a suffering inmate in psychiatry, the hospital releases him the next day."

Is it true that the guards have confidants among the inmates?

"It is a necessary measure."

A mistake that is hard to forgive?

"I haven't made any big mistakes."

A prisoner he had grown fond of?

«It's happened to me more than once. I still hear from one, he calls me to see how I'm doing. I meet some on the street. Humanity first of all."

Did he change his ways with the inmates?

"The Marshal of Cuneo also taught me this rule: I always had conversations with the inmates in the presence of a policewoman."

Why?

«To avoid bad accusations, such as that of having stretched out one's hands. Never speak alone with women and inmates in 41 bis."

When Buoncammino closed, you were the director. He transferred 334 inmates to Uta in six hours.

"There wasn't a single setback."

How many children have you seen growing up in prison?

"More than one".

Did they come to your office?

"I went to them."

How many years of career?

"Thirty three".

The worst scene?

«A mother whose child was taken away. Other people's children are always a little bit ours too."

Do you miss work?

«There is a bit of nostalgia. But all in all the exit wasn't traumatic. However, I had the privilege of doing beautiful and interesting work. Delinquency is prevented through school and sport. I am president of a boxing association. Boxing also saves many kids. Because once you enter the cell, it is difficult to get out."

Is the rehabilitation of prisoners a utopia?

«I never believed it. Whoever saves himself realizes on his own that he made a mistake."

Out of 100, how many make it?

"Fifty. And they are always people who have a family behind them and know a trade. Or they learn it."

Have you ever returned to Asinara?

«Twelve-thirteen years ago. As a tourist. I found an abandoned island. A ghost town. Without schools and family anymore. It had a bad effect on me."