Rome jail women's section head suspended

(ANSA) - Rome, September 19 - Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede has decided to suspend the director of the women's section of Rome's Rebibbia prison after an inmate killed her daughter and critically injured another of her children inside, sources said Wednesday. Two other officials have also been suspended in relation to the case, the sources said.
    A 31-year-old German woman serving time for drugs offences threw both of the children down a flight of steps on Tuesday, sources said. The victim was a four-month-old girl while the injured child is a 20-month-old boy. Warders' union SPP said "keeping children in jail is torture". "This tragedy could have been averted and others must be averted," said SPP chief Aldo Di Giacomo. "Children shouldn't be kept in prison: for them it is a torture; it's not possible for something like this to happen".
    The Bambino Gesù hospital said Wednesday that it was running checks to verify whether the boy is brain dead.
    The children's hospital said the small boy was in an "extremely serious condition" and scans had confirmed he was in a coma.
    The woman said Wednesday: "now my children are free".
    "I knew that yesterday the hearing before the re-examination judges who had to discuss my position was scheduled," she went on.
    "I freed my children, now they are in heaven". Her comments on what happened in the nursery section of the jail Tuesday were relayed to reporters by her lawyer, Andrea Palmiero.
    Palmiero said the 33-year-old "appeared aware of what she had done." Her six-month-old daughter, Faith, died immediately while the 20-month-old son, Divine, is fighting for his life in a Rome hospital.
    Prosecutors said they were seeking the children's father to authorise the donation of organs.
    "The man can contact the Bambino Gesù management on 06 685 92424, or the Carabinieri of the investigative unit in via Selvi on 06 489 42931", they said.
    The woman was arrested in Rome on August 28 for being in possession of 10 kilogrammes of marijuana.
    She was arrested in flagrante and her arrest is set to be confirmed by a preliminary investigations judge in the coming days, judicial sources said.