Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

PRISON

Police hunt escaped prisoners in southern Italy after quarantine sparks riots

Italian police are on Wednesday hunting for 11 prisoners who escaped in the aftermath of jail riots sparked by fears over coronavirus, as authorities began to test inmates and distribute face masks.

Published: 11 March 2020 17:05 CET
Police hunt escaped prisoners in southern Italy after quarantine sparks riots
Italian riot polic stand guard outside a prison. Photo: Piero Cruciatti/AFP

Those still on the run were part of a group of 72 inmates who escaped on Monday from a prison in Foggia, a city in the southern region of Puglia, the justice ministry said.

They included a 36-year old man, Cristoforo Aghilar, who was arrested last October for killing the mother of his ex-girlfriend, as well as several men with links to organised crime.

At least 6,000 prisoners took part in the riots, which broke out on Sunday at prisons across the country, Justice Minister Alfonso Bonafede told Senate on Wednesday, which was nearly empty due to new restrictions on group assembly.

Twelve inmates died, mostly due to overdoses after rioters stormed prison infirmaries, and 40 guards were wounded, the minister said.

Inmates' relatives outside a prison in Naples holding a banner reading “Right to health for all prisoners, amnesty and pardon for all”. Photo: AFP

At the medium-security prison of Foggia, a few prisoners set their sheets and mattresses on fire on Monday, attracting the attention of guards. At the same time, a group of about 200 men managed to force open the doors of an exit corridor and some reached the outer limit of the prison and scaled the outside walls, Bonafede said.

The prison suffered serious structural damage, he said.

Before the riots, inmates had objected to new restrictions on visits by family members designed to keep coronavirus – which has already killed 631 people in Italy as of Tuesday night – out of the country's overcrowded prison system.

“It's evident that so many prisoners are worried, especially in overcrowded conditions, about the impact of coronavirus on inmates' health,” Bonafede said.

READ ALSO: The everyday coronavirus precautions to take if you're in Italy

About 100,000 protective masks were being distributed throughout the prison system, while tests for coronavirus would soon be conducted on inmates who had recently been transferred between institutions, he said.

Amnesty International Italy said on Monday it was “deeply concerned” by the rioting and stressed that the “critical hygienic-sanitary conditions” in jails demanded the utmost precautions be taken to limit the risk of contagion.

Find all The Local's coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy here. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

HEALTH

Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The World Health Organization's European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region. And the real figure may be much higher.

Published: 27 June 2023 13:27 CEST
Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The global health body on May 5 announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency.”

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told reporters.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.

“Close to 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week, and this is an underestimate due to a drop in countries regularly reporting Covid-19 deaths to WHO,” Kluge added, and urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent for vulnerable groups.

Kluge also said estimates showed that one in 30, or some 36 million people, in the region had experienced so called “long Covid” in the last three years, which “remains a complex condition we still know very little about.”

“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long Covid, we will never truly recover from the pandemic,” Kluge said, encouraging more research in the area which he called an under-recognised condition.

Most countries in Europe have dropped all Covid safety restrictions but some face mask rules remain in place in certain countries in places like hospitals.

Although Spain announced this week that face masks will no longer be required in certain healthcare settings, including hospitals and pharmacies, with a couple of exceptions.

Sweden will from July 1st remove some of its remaining Covid recommendations for the public, including advice to stay home and avoid close contact with others if you’re ill or have Covid symptoms.

The health body also urged vigilance in the face of a resurgence of mpox, having recorded 22 new cases across the region in May, and the health impact of heat waves.

SHOW COMMENTS