Pisa prison: inmate protests by setting fire to the cell, intoxicated prison policemen

Sunday of madness the one just spent in the Don Bosco prison in Pisa. “Guilt and consequence of the reckless and incomprehensible protest of a prisoner who set a fire in the cell where he was confined, setting fire to everything inside”, explains Pasquale Salemme, national secretary for Tuscany of the Autonomous Police Syndicate SAPPE Penitentiary, the first and most representative of the Category. “On Sunday evening, at 6.00 pm, a prisoner of foreign origin created moments of real tension. For reasons of protest and to vent his incomprehensible anger, the protagonist of the event used the bedding of his cell to set the fire. The fumes released invaded the entire area, dissecting the cells of the other reaching people, giving rise to moments of panic. Commendable was the prompt intervention of the prison police officers on duty, who immediately secured the perpetrator of the insane gesture, saving his life, and then evacuating the entire section avoiding the risk of infection for the inmates. With the help of three fire extinguishers, the agents quickly brought the situation back to normal by taming the high flames. Sadly, two policemen were diagnosed with smoke inhalation poisoning with a prognosis of seven days. This is yet another proof of the professional and moral value of the men and women of the Penitentiary Police, who place a sense of duty before their personal safety.
Solidarity and words of appreciation for the professionalism, courage and spirit of service shown by the prison policemen of Pisa also come from Donato Capece, secretary general of the SAPP: “It is only thanks to them, to the silent heroes with the Basco Azzurro to whom SAPPE would like to thank them for what they do every day, if prisons stand up to the constant penitentiary problems. It is now a war bulletin and the victims are always the same: the women and men in uniform of the Penitentiary Police. Immediate and structural interventions are needed to restore just legality to the penitentiary circuit by intervening primarily on the open custodial regime. And instead, from the Head of the DAP Petralia and from the Minister Cartabia, no measures and solutions are seen. Every day something happens in Italian prisons, and it has almost become ordinary to report what happens between the bars. I repeat: in Pisa the timely intervention of the police, with a great sense of responsibility, courage and professionalism, made it possible to avoid more serious and tragic consequences. And it is for this reason that the SAPP sincerely thanks all the staff of the Penitentiary Police who, with professionalism and self-denial, have prevented all these situations from becoming even more dramatic “.

Source Sappe press office