Alemanno: 'I invite politics to prison'

An important gesture of attention, not to be taken for granted. The President of the Chamber, Lorenzo Fontana, a few days after the alarm of the head of state on the overcrowding of prisons, visited the penitentiary of Rebibbia. Welcomed by the director Maria Donata Iannantuono and a delegation of the prison police, he met several inmates, including Gianni Alemanno.

"I wanted to be here - Fontana said during the visit - to show my full closeness to those who work in these facilities. We must continue to work with determination to overcome historic problems such as overcrowding and staff shortages". And part of his visit was dedicated to the meeting with the former mayor of Rome, who has been in Rebibbia since 31 December 2024 and who has made his condition and that of the inmates a battle. From prison, Alemanno has sent open letters and requests addressed in particular to the Minister of Justice to intervene. Some passages from his prison diary were recently read in the Senate Chamber by Democratic MP Michele Fina. "Here we die of heat but politics sleeps with air conditioning", the words of the former minister.

And today, after Fontana's visit, Alemanno has entrusted his lawyer, Edoardo Albertario, with a new appeal: "I invite politicians to prison to see the conditions in which the inmates live". "He is in a cell with five other people, the temperatures are prohibitive. Rebibbia is a relatively new prison and it is all sheet metal: summer becomes hell - says the lawyer - At the G8 there were suicide attempts, this situation must be reported". Alemanno, explains the lawyer, "does not exclude other forms of protest that involve political figures and associations that have long been concerned with the conditions of the inmates".

Next week, on July 12, the former mayor of the capital will receive a visit from the deputy of Iv Roberto Giachetti as part of an initiative organized by 'Nessuno Tocchi Caino' of Rita Bernardini. Giachetti has been fighting in Parliament for some time for the proposed law promoted by the association on early release for the increase from 45 to 60 days of the sentence reduction that kicks in every six months for good behavior. A bill that has however run aground in the Chamber. A measure in this sense would also see the favor of the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa (who met Alemanno during a visit to Rebibbia last April) who on this point, after also receiving Rita Bernardini at Palazzo Madama, is exercising his moral suasion.

Among other possible measures for the dramatic situation in prisons, there is also the one the government is considering to recognize drug addicts the possibility of serving their sentences in the community. "We need to create the conditions so that prisoners can work inside the institutions - he concludes - and, for those serving shorter sentences - also suggests the blue Paolo Emilio Russo - outside during the day. It is important that those with institutional roles go and see with their own eyes to understand the urgency of an intervention, at a time when, among other things, the heat makes normal conditions even more difficult".