The guarantor of Sardinian prisoners denounces extreme conditions in prison, the reactions: «Lock her up too»

"At least one piece of good news, we're saving on something. Did you explain to the idiot that if he wasn't committing crimes he was, perhaps, hanging out with friends?". "Why doesn't the lady, since she's so sensitive, take one to her house?". And these are just two of the comments, not even the worst, on the news of the inspection by the guarantor of prisoners, Irene Testa, in the Bancali prison , in Sassari. She herself published a long sequence of them. Each one is a blow to article 27 of the Constitution, according to which "punishments cannot consist of treatments contrary to the sense of humanity and must tend to the re-education of the convicted".

Testa wrote: "It is my duty to report that in a section with 16 cells there are 55 inmates, most of them crammed four to a cell. The ceilings are damp, the walls are peeling, the cells are in precarious hygienic conditions. Furthermore, in most of the cells there are very few cabinets to store personal items. Are the furnishings reduced to make space and fit within the square footage required by law, so as to fit four beds? In order not to throw their clothes on the floor, the inmates build small furnishings with cardboard. In some cells there are no radiators, some doors are missing in the bathrooms, so those who live in those spaces are forced to endure smells and humiliation. Four hours of visits in a single section. Continuous screaming. Psychiatric inmates talking to themselves, shouting or throwing water, food and detergent in the corridors. Many foreign inmates have asked to have clothes and shoes. Finally, in this surreal visit, we met a 20-year-old boy who hasn't eaten since February 14 and who has lost over 15 kilos."

Conditions that do not appear compatible with the principles dictated by the fundamental charter. But those who are outside, and comment, abandon themselves to the instinct dictated by the gut.

The guarantor of prisoners publishes a long sequence of screenshots. She does not comment, she lets the contents speak for themselves: « A month without eating? Better, soon it's the swimsuit test ». Or: « Lock her up ».

(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)