Prison system must be reformed says Draghi at brutality jail

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 14 - Italy's prison system must be reformed, Premier Mario Draghi told authorities after visiting a jail near Naples where 52 warders were recently arrested after allegedly brutally beating inmates after a COVID riot in April last year.
    "We are not here to celebrate triumphs or successes but to face the consequences of our defeats", he said.
    Referring to videos of the alleged beatings, Draghi said "what we saw in the last few days deeply shocked the consciences of the Italians.
    "They are images of over a year ago. The ongoing investigations will establish individual responsibilities. But collective responsibility (belongs to) a system that must be reformed." Draghi went on: "The Italian Constitution lays down in Article 27 the principles that must guide the instrument of detention: "Penalties cannot consist in treatment contrary to the sense of humanity and must tend towards the re-education of the convicted".
    "These principles must be accompanied by safeguarding universal rights: the right to psycho-physical integrity, education, work and health, just to cite a few. These rights must always be protected, in particular in a context that sees limitations of freedom.
    "The government has no intention of forgetting. The proposals of Minister Cartabia represent a first step that I support with conviction, There can be no justice where there is abuse. And there cannot be re-education where there is abuse.
    "Italy has been condemned twice by the European Court of Human Rights for prison overcrowding. There are almost 3,000 inmates more than the available beds. In Campanian institutes they are around 450. The numbers are improving, but they are still unacceptable. They obstruct the path towards rehabilitation and reinsertion into social life, objectives often indicated by the Constitutional Court".
    Cartabia said that the pandemic "acted as a detonator for longstanding issues" that afflict Italy's jails, the prime one being overcrowding, and there must be intervention at "several levels" including material facilities and training, but also on the legislative front. She said the government's new package of reforms corrects "penal measures just centered on prison".
    Cartabia said more prison staff must be hired, as soon as possible.
    "We need more funds and more commitment in permanent training".
    especially for "penitentiary police that have to accompany inmates in their process of re-education".
    Turning to Draghi, Cartabia said "this must be the opportunity to make sure the prison world turns the page".
    Earlier, as the premier toured the jail, prisoners chanted his name and "pardon, pardon".
    Naples police sent in special penitentiary police forces after the April 6 riot at the jail at Santa Maria Capua Vetere near Caserta north of Naples. The special forces are suspected of brutality and may also face charges of torture in the methods used to 'punish' the rioters, judicial sources said.
    A preliminary investigations judge (GIP) said prisoners were made to strip and kneel and beaten with guards wearing their helmets so as not to be identified in what he called "a horrible massacre". Some 15 men were also put into solitary without any justification, the GIP said.
    Police reportedly found chats on the suspects' phones including, before the alleged violence, "We'll kill them like veal calves" and "tame the beasts", and afterwards "four hours of hell for them", "no one got away", and "(we used) the Poggioreale system", referring to a tough Naples prison. Some of the alleged rioters had their hair cut and beards shaved off.
    Among those probed are doctors who allegedly falsely certified that some warders had been hurt in the clashes.
    Cartabia has said that CCTV footage of the violence showed that the officers had betrayed the Italian Constitution. (ANSA).