New escalation of tension in the Arghillà prison, in Reggio Calabria. It was reported by Osapp, according to which some inmates managed to take possession of the keys to a section, temporarily taking control of the department and giving rise to what the union defines as a “violent and systematic devastation”.
According to the reconstruction of the trade union organization, everything started after the blocking of talks ordered against a prisoner. At that point another seven inmates, already subjected to the special surveillance regime provided for by article 14-bis of the Penitentiary Regulations, would have climbed onto the walls of the walkways, destroying the video surveillance system.
Subsequently, a group of inmates managed to gain possession of the keys to the section, taking control of the unit.
Osapp: «Security system collapsed»
The union also denounces an internal climate marked for some time by “tensions, unresolved management issues and a conflictual attitude towards prison police personnel”, who would be forced to work in conditions defined as “unsustainable psychophysical”.
“What happened in the last few hours represents the point of no return,” says Pasquale Montesano, deputy general secretary of Osapp. «When subjects under the 14-bis regime manage to steal the keys and devastate an entire structure, it means that the security system has totally collapsed».
The requests to the Government and the Dap
Osapp therefore makes an urgent appeal to the Government, the Ministry of Justice and the Dap, asking for the declaration of a state of emergency and the adoption of extraordinary containment and security measures.
The requests also include urgent transfers of the prisoners deemed most problematic, the extraordinary intervention of the Gom, an immediate inspection of the institution with checks on the management and a review of the security structure, including the closure of open regimes and the reinstatement of more rigid protocols to protect prison police personnel.