Too many prisoners in Bancali . “Nessuno tocchi Caino” , the transnational organization against the death penalty, visited the Sardinian facilities in recent days, also stopping at the Bacchiddu prison, which was discussed at the conference promoted by the Criminal Chambers of Sassari, on Monday, in the Sala Angioy of the Province.
"We have noticed - reports Rita Bernardini, president of the NGO - a phenomenon that was previously unknown on the island: overcrowding ."
There are 524 inmates in the Sassari prison, 349 common ones, 24 women, including a mother with a small child, 17 High Security, 91 41 bis, 43 protected , that is, those who have committed brutal sexual crimes or even arrested members of the police force. But the most significant data are those relating to the health conditions of the "inmates" .
" There are 90 psychiatric patients - says lawyer Maria Teresa Pintus of the Ucpi Prison Observatory and moderator of the meeting - 100 are in charge of the Serd, 450 take tranquilizers to sleep". A symptom of a constantly growing discomfort as attested by the 34 attempted suicides and the two successful ones since January of this year. "In Bancali there is a high presence - says lawyer Marco Palmieri, former president of the Criminal Chambers of Sassari - of people with dual diagnosis, drug addiction and mental illnesses. It is clear that the prison is not able to treat them. Adequate structures are needed ". "In these cases - adds Bernardini - we limit ourselves to pharmacological restraint to sedate them. In Sassari some of them were very young with a life ahead of them".
In the health sector, there are several critical issues such as the recent cases of scabies that are added to those of tuberculosis in recent months . In addition, it is noted that the ASL has not carried out checks to verify the healthiness of the environments for some time. "Bancali's problems are many and are mostly ignored - says Danilo Mattana, lawyer and president of the Criminal Chambers of Sassari - We as a legal profession cannot solve them but we want to shed light on the critical issues. For this reason, we have scheduled three days of abstention in November, so that people realize what happens in prison".
