In Sassari , the Bancali prison, where a 36-year-old inmate died in a fire on Thursday, houses 577 inmates for 454 places. In this context, the government plans to assign three facilities in Sardinia to the 41-bis regime. Following the tragedy, the associations Europa Radicale and Nessuno tocchi Caino are launching an appeal to suspend the plan for harsh prisons on the island.
We demand the immediate suspension of the concentration plan for prisoners under the 41 bis regime in Sardinian prisons , until these facilities return to their regulatory capacity, and an urgent report to Parliament on the conditions of the health ward of the Sassari-Bancali prison , where a thirty-six-year-old Sardinian prisoner was burned to death on the night of July 30-31. Regional Ombudsman Irene Testa, they continue, has documented leaks, mold, and cells without radiators in Bancali, filing a complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office. Her annual report notes that at Uta, out of 729 inmates, 92% are undergoing ongoing therapy and nearly half are undergoing ongoing psychiatric treatment.
Bancali's death comes just days after the conclusion of a series of visits to Sardinian penitentiaries conducted by Hands Off Cain and the Italian Movement for Prisoners' Rights, together with the Criminal Chambers of Cagliari, Oristano, and Nuoro: the Is Arenas penal colony, the Badu 'e Carros prison, and the Mamone penal colony. The visits were attended by local administrators, lawyers, and representatives of local institutions.
"We just finished visiting Is Arenas, Badu 'e Carros, and Mamone," says Gabriele Casanova (Hands Off Cain). "At Is Arenas, one hundred and fifteen out of one hundred and fifteen inmates work, and this is a rare fact: it shows that paths of responsibility and reintegration can be built. And yet, despite the work and despite the sea, what you feel is a sense of suspended time. We left those visits convinced that there was still time for change. For a thirty-six-year-old man, inside the Bancali health unit, time ran out early."
"As of April 30, 2026, according to Antigone's XXII Report, Italian prisons had 64,436 inmates for 46,318 places actually available, with 73 institutions over 150%. According to Antigone," states Federica Valcauda (Radical Europe), "between 2025 and the first months of 2026, 106 inmates died by suicide. The National Guarantor's report records 254 total deaths in 2025, the highest figure in decades."