Seven young inmates of the Beccaria prison in Milan , perhaps taking advantage of work in progress for some time in the penitentiary or the reduced ranks of the prison police on Christmas day, escaped yesterday around 4.30 pm, apparently through a hole in the wall .

Two have already been taken back to the penitentiary, a third returned independently this morning and a sweeping search is underway for the other four . In the hours following the escape of the seven boys - all between 17 and 19 years old - other inmates set fire to the mattresses in some cells of the same penitentiary and five vehicles from the fire brigade arrived to keep the situation under control. Four officers ended up in hospital for poisoning.

Matteo Salvini said he was "bewildered" , all the agents available on call given the situation are back on duty and the heads of the Juvenile Justice Department are expected today.

In juvenile institutes, for reasons also connected to penitentiary overcrowding in prisons, the age of the prisoners - recalls the secretary of Uilpa Gennarino De Fazio - can reach up to 25 years. « Many of the problems affecting prisons - underlines the trade unionist - are also found in penal institutions for minors . In particular, the cases of attacks on operators, riots and, as in this case, evasion are rapidly increasing. This is evidently attributable to a series of factors», including precisely «the raising of the age limit».

According to the secretary of the independent union Sappe, Donato Capece, several agents and prisoners are suffering from convulsions and vomiting after breathing in the smoke from burning mattresses . Capece then recalled that in these hours of high tension at the Beccaria there are firefighters, police forces and 118 rescuers.

(Unioneonline/L)