MILAN. Seven inmates aged 17 and 18 escaped in the afternoon from the courtyard of the “Cesare Beccaria” penal institution for minors in Milan. Two were tracked down and arrested in the evening: one was allegedly stopped at his mother-in-law’s house. “The fugitives – communicates in a note Gennarino De Fazio, secretary general of the Uilpa Penitentiary Police – would have taken advantage of the ongoing works that have been going on for various time to open a gap in the fence and then climb over the boundary wall”. The searches of the Penitentiary Police and other law enforcement agencies began immediately. A few hours later, other inmates in the juvenile prison set fire to several cells in protest: the firefighters sent five fire trucks. The courtyard-promenade was also occupied in protest.
The escape alarm went off just before 4.30pm. Initially it seemed to be a single escaped prisoner, but it was quickly realized that the situation was much more serious. The escaped prisoners are 17 and 18 years old, some of whom are of Italian nationality.
Tension beyond bars is growing throughout Italy. The secretary general of Uilpa underlines in particular that “for some time now, many of the problems affecting prisons have also been found in penal institutions for minors”. In particular, «the cases of attacks on operators, of riots and, as in this case, of evasion are on the rise. This is evidently attributable to a series of factors ranging from the substantial lack of interest of the prevailing politics and governments in prison affairs to poorly shrewd choices, such as precisely the raising of the age limit which allows detention in juvenile facilities, on which the more the ax of the budget law currently being approved with further cuts will also fall ».
For some time – adds the Uilpa secretary – “we have been repeating that the criminal enforcement system needs to be rethought and that the Department of Juvenile and Community Justice and the Department of Penitentiary Administration need to be reorganized and strengthened, whose respective autonomy cannot be under discussion, but in a logic of planning and coordination”.
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Waiting to know who will be the new head of the Juvenile and Community Justice Department, «given the retirement of Gemma Tuccillo, we hope to soon be able to meet with the Minister of Justice and the Deputy Undersecretaries for the search for a reform path and concrete solutions that go beyond mere proclamations», concludes De Fazio.
For Donato Capece, secretary general of the Autonomous Union of Penitentiary Police Sappe it is “an announced escape”. “The serious affair brings to light the (often neglected) security priorities with which the women and men of the Beccaria Penitentiary Police have to deal with every day”.
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For a long time, worrying signs have been multiplying from the juvenile penitentiary universe, Capece denounces. «Beccaria, Casal del Marmo in Rome, Nisida, Bologna, Airola… we have recorded and continue to record with worrying frequency and cadence the repetition of serious critical events in penitentiary institutions for minors in Italy. It should be emphasized, in fact, that in the last period various inmates of juvenile prisons provoke the prison policemen with arrogance and inurban ways, always creating situations of great tension. But no action has been taken. And this is why we are surprised by those who “are surprised” if we ask for a revision of the law which allows the detention of restricted adults up to the age of 25 in structures for minors».
Matteo Salvini says he is “bewildered” by the evasion and “is following developments with great attention”, Lega sources report. Disconcerting also defines the Northern League senator Andrea Ostellari, undersecretary of Justice who received a few days ago the delegation to juvenile prisons and the treatment of prisoners. «We are in contact with the director of the prison to find out more about the ways in which the fact occurred. I thank the prison police department, which promptly returned to service in its entirety, the Nic and the other law enforcement agencies who immediately started an intense search for escapees. I will visit the institute in person. What happened must not be repeated. Effective and immediately available solutions must be identified to prevent similar episodes ».
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