Tensions were high this afternoon in Bancali prison. The USPP and its regional secretary, Alessandro Cara, reported an incident that, according to the prison police union, involved a foreign inmate who, in recent days, had attempted to escape . The escape, which occurred after climbing over the courtyard wall, may, however, have been merely a show of force.

According to the Union of Penitentiary Police Unions, the man had initially failed to return home today, then once he returned to solitary confinement, problems began. "He barricaded himself inside the cell and managed to tamper with and block the lock , creating an extremely delicate security situation." The person began setting fire to some sheets in the cell, "generating," the union statement states, "a fire and a highly dangerous situation for both staff and the inmate himself." The officers had to manage a complex situation, involving the ongoing fire and the tampered lock, and were ultimately able to intervene and successfully save the man.

The incident raises alarm about the safety and conditions of officers. "What the USPP now considers intolerable," the document states, "is that events of this gravity are being faced daily by physically and psychologically exhausted personnel ." The complaint is wide-ranging: "We're talking about officers who are continually denied leave, subjected to completely unstable shifts , constantly called back to duty, and, in several cases, even sent on consecutive nights —a situation this union considers incompatible with any minimum principle of worker protection."

The Union denounces the conditions of the senior staff, both men and women, who have long been dealing with the facility's emergencies. It concludes: "The USPP believes that the situation has now exceeded all limits of tolerability and calls for immediate intervention by the Department of Penitentiary Administration, the Regional Office, and the competent authorities."

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