Prisoner says 'beaten in cell by officers'

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 27 - An investigation for alleged injury has been opened by the Venice Public Prosecutor's Office following the complaint of an inmate who said he had been severely beaten by some officers at the Santa Maria Maggiore prison in Venice.
    The 23-year-old, originally from Eastern Europe, was then transferred from Venice to the Montorio prison in Verona, where doctors found that he was in serious condition - he was also bleeding internally - and ordered his emergency admission to hospital.
    The young man told his lawyer what had happened to him, and so a complaint was lodged with the public prosecutor's office against three prison police officers.
    The young man's lawyer, Anna Osti, told Corriere Veneto that the 23-year-old is still in hospital in Verona, because the doctors believe he is too fragile to be sent back to prison.
    According to the newspaper 'La Nuova Venezia', the man, who is in prison for armed robbery, was reportedly in intensive care for several days.
    One of the aspects to be clarified concerns the clearance - also concerning the inmate's health condition - that must always be given for the transfer of prisoners from one penitentiary to another.
    The alleged 'punitive expedition' was triggered after the young man had staged a protest, setting fire to some newspaper sheets in his cell. (ANSA).