Mattarella thanks prison officers

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 9 - President Sergio Mattarella on Thursday thanked prison officers for acting promptly to quell recent COVID-related riots.
    The head of State said the officers had been "timely in situations of malaise and tension".
    Riots erupted in Italian jails at the start of the coronavirus lockdown earlier this year.
    Prisoners took to the roofs of penitentiaries across the country.
    They also looted prison infirmaries.
    Several inmates fatally overdosed on stolen drugs.
    Speaking on the 203rd anniversary of the constitution of the Italian penitentiary corps, Mattarella said they had acted promptly "in all the situations of malaise and tension which have emerged in the institutions over the years". (ANSA).