"After the 92 declared by the Five Star Movement, now comes the 500 from MP Silvio Lai. It should be noted that no number was provided during the meeting at the Ministry of Justice, for clear and obvious security reasons."

The topic is Sardinian prisons, at the center of the debate over the future of the island's penal institutions and the possibility of them becoming exclusively designated for the 41-bis regime. Salvatore Deidda, a member of the Brothers of Italy party and chair of the Chamber of Deputies' Transportation Committee, intervened in a statement, responding to the claims of Democratic Party representative Silvio Lai. "I find it extremely serious that false information has been leaked on such a sensitive issue," Deidda added.

"There are two possibilities," Deidda insists, "either Councillor Todde deliberately leaked unfounded information, or he misunderstood the content of the ministerial meeting. In either case, we are faced with irresponsible behavior."

"The Ministry of Justice," concludes the FdI parliamentarian, "will clarify the situation as soon as possible. However, we must immediately refute these fanciful reconstructions: no one has ever spoken of converting all Sardinian institutions to the 41-bis regime, nor have the figures currently circulating been cited. The sole focus has been on the need for 41-bis units to be strictly separated from the rest of the prison population, as required by current regulations. Moreover, as others have clarified, Sardinia was envisioned by a Five Star Movement minister."

(Unioneonline/vf)