Nine officers suspended for the escape of Marco Raduano, the Gargano mafia boss who escaped from the high security wing of the Badu 'e Carros prison on February 24, 2023, by lowering himself from the prison wall with knotted sheets. He was on the run until February 2, when he was captured in Corsica. With the latest measures notified by the prison administration on Monday, the administrative investigation conducted against the then commander Francesco Dessì (who had been suspended a few days after the escape) and 12 other officers, who had in some way been involved in surveillance, was closed.

Four cases were archived by the prison administration, while all the others were suspended from service with sentences ranging from five months to one. Little is known about the reasons for the individual decisions.

The measures – The decision, pending the outcome of the criminal investigation aimed at identifying the network of supporters who facilitated the escape, highlights not a single error, but a multitude of critical issues that remain unresolved, starting with the small number of officers on duty. A week after the sensational escape, the then commander of the prison, Francesco Dessì, was the first to be suspended from service. Now Dessì has been sentenced to a fine of two thirtieths of his salary, a few hundred euros.

The most severe punishment was given to the officer who was in the High Security section from where Raduano escaped on the evening of February 24, 2023: he received a five-month suspension from duty.

Four months were given to the person in charge of the control room, where all the monitors of the prison video surveillance system were located. The officer finished his shift at 2 pm and was not replaced, but he was imprudent enough to leave the room open where Raduano found the keys unattended that allowed him to open the other doors that took him to the perimeter wall. Two months to the officer in charge of general surveillance. One month to all the others. Those in charge of the warehouse, where the boss allegedly obtained the knotted sheets used to scale the perimeter wall, were acquitted. The officers who were at the entrance door were also acquitted: although equipped with monitors, they were allegedly engaged in controlling access and exits from the main door.

The escape – Raduano escaped at 5 pm on February 24, 2023, favored by the critical issues reported several times in a high security prison that was leaking from all sides and in which no one had ever intervened in a structural mine. Captured in Corsica, he has been a collaborator of justice since March.

Fabio Ledda

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