In Bancali the visit of the national guarantor of prisoners: "The conditions of Alfredo Cospito are worrying"

"I'm worried about Alfredo Cospito ." Mauro Palma, national guarantor of prisoners, today visited the anarchist leader in the 41 bis regime in the Sassari penitentiary since last May in the Bancali prison and for about 80 days fasting in protest against the harsh prison. «However, I am not worried about his health conditions, despite the drop in weight, but because Cospito does not seem willing to withdraw from this hunger strike. And this can lead to a worsening of the overall picture.

For the 55-year-old, the strike also seems to be the only way to make his voice heard. «He has this willingness to be a witness, almost as if he wanted to sacrifice himself, and for him the general cause matters more than his personal one. He has known the 41 bis from within and wants to fight to overcome it». For the Constitutional Court and supranational bodies, Palma affirms, hard prison "is a legitimate and dutiful regime to the extent that it cuts off links with criminal organizations. On the other hand, it becomes unlawful if it simply becomes an aggravation of the conditions of detention, almost as if to give a more afflictive value".

For Cospito, life imprisonment was requested for the attack on the carabinieri school of Rozzano in 2006 with the redevelopment of the crime into a massacre against the state. Since then there have been many demonstrations of solidarity in his favour, including by leading figures in civil society such as, for example, the former senator Luigi Manconi. «Cospito is a person with whom we communicate very well - continues the guarantor - and we also had an ironic exchange on the micro-rules of hard prison, such as the one concerning the books he can read. Each time they request the purchase of a volume, it is then subjected to a censorship check. It's a really slow process."

As for the decision of the Cassation, regarding the prison regime, "he has little hope". A final joke concerns the Bancali institute: «In the other parts of the prison there are more problems than in the 41 bis. It is a prison that needs stable figures, management, coordination, and instead we have had provisional figures for too long ».