Alarming prison death statistics
01 May 2004
The Associazione Antigone has published a table on its website that includes all deaths due to natural causes and suicide in Italian prisons in 2002, divided by region, sex, nationality (Italian or foreign citizens) and the status of the prisoners (whether they were charged awaiting trial, sentenced or interned). The figures indicate that 160 persons died, of whom 108 for natural causes and 52 as a result of suicide. The majority were Italian men, and six of the deceased were women (two of them foreign), and 26 were foreign citizens. The regions where most prisoners died of natural causes were Lazio (19), Campania (18) and Lombardy (18), while none died in Basilicata, Calabria, the Marches, Trentino Alto Adige and Val d'Aosta. As regards to suicides, the highest numbers of suicides took place in Lombardy (9), Emilia Romagna (7) and Sardinia (6), with none taking place in the regions of Abruzzo, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Molise, Val d'Aosta and Veneto. The only one out of Italy's 20 regions where no deaths took place during 2003 was the small north-western mountain region of Val d'Aosta. The highest number of prisoners who died had been sentenced (84), although there is also a large number of people who died who had been charged and arrested as they awaited trial (62). The Italian regions which have the highest prison populations are Lombardy, Campania, Sicily, Lazio and Piedmont; the ones with the least number of prisoners are Val d'Aosta, Molise and Trentino Alto Adige.
The figures for the period running from 2001 to 2003 indicate that over 500 prisoners died as a result of ill-health or suicide, according to the Conferenza Nazionale Volontariato Giustizia (National Conference of Volunteers in the Justice sector), which submitted its findings to the Italian parliament's Social Affairs and Justice Committee on 4 May 2004. Livio Ferrari, the association's president stressed that the number of deaths in custody has been increasing since 1995, and many of these involve persons who are under 40 years old. Other NGOs were also heard by the parliamentary committee, including Associazione Antigone, which indicated that 65 inmates committed suicide in 2003 (the prison administration's figure is 57), two of whom were under age. Representatives from the NGOs highlighted the high number of prisoners who are drug addicts or suffer from psychiatric problems, and that several prisoners suffer from infectious diseases such as hepatitis, with diseases such as scurvy, tuberculosis and syphilis, "diseases which appeared to belong to the past", making a comeback.
Associazione Antigone, 4.5.04, and Chart on figures for deaths for 2002, available on: www.associazioneantigone.it; Il manifesto, 5, 9.5.04; Annuario Sociale 2001, Gruppo Abele, Turin, May 2001.