52 prison suicides this year

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 16 - There have been 52 suicide among prison inmates in Italy since January this year, prion officer union UILPA said Tuesday.
    UILPA General Secretary Gennarino De Fazio said the "extremely high number" of suicides reflected the effects of so-called looser "dynamic surveillance" which allegedly lent itself to all kinds of abuse and generated "trafficking of all kinds".
    He said that violence among inmates had increased exponentially under the new regime, leading to soaring rates of anxiety and depression.
    Pending the installation of a new Italian government after the September 25 general election, De Fazio called for action to "re-establish the presence of and the rules of the State" in many high-risk Italian prisons.
    He cited, among others: "Firenze Sollicciano, Monza, Catanzaro, Augusta, Sanremo, Salerno, Cagliari, Taranto, Bologna, Rome Regina Coeli and Padova Due Palazzi".
    De Fazio said "the new detention model has generated all kinds of vexations".
    The Italian prison chaplains group said over-crowding was another major factor behind the high rate of suicides. (ANSA).