A 52-year-old inmate killed himself during the night in Bancali prison. He is the 27th victim behind bars since the beginning of the year. The man hanged himself on the cell gate with his trouser string and was found dead this morning at 6am by prison officers when they opened the cells for the count.

"We are dismayed and heartbroken: a prisoner who takes his own life in prison is a defeat for the State and for all of us who work on the front line ", denounces Donato Capece, general secretary of the Autonomous Penitentiary Police Union. «He returned last night from hospitalization - explains Sappe's national delegate for Sardinia, Antonio Cannas - It seems he was suffering from suicidal problems. The prisoner was Italian. In the cell with him there was another inmate who apparently didn't notice anything because he was asleep. When the cell lock was opened, the man was found hanging from the gate."

For the regional secretary of the acronym, Luca Fais, «suicide is certainly an unpredictable event, the problem is preventive, not subsequent. With the transfer of penitentiary healthcare to the Regions, the situation has unfortunately worsened extremely. The shortage of health workers, psychologists and psychiatrists is the crux of the issue. In our opinion, regional competitions and the hiring of healthcare personnel are needed to be allocated exclusively to Sardinian prisons." In urging the requested reforms, Sappe warns: «If the Keeper of the Seals Nordio ignores this appeal, we will not hesitate to bring to the streets under the Department of Justice all the dissent and discontent of the Italian penitentiary policemen».

(Unioneonline/D)