Italian public opinion has been shocked by a video showing violence against detainees in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison outside Naples.
The images came from internal security cameras and the organized attack on the prisoners took place on April 20, 2020. The previous day, the detainees had protested demanding tests and coronavirus protection masks.
The video clearly shows prison officials punching inmates in the head, even the disabled, in the corridors and common areas of prisons. Many were forced to kneel, completely naked, while prison officials beat them with their helmets.
Watch the video published by the online edition of the Italian newspaper Domani:
n an exchange of messages, some prison officials wrote: “We will kill them like calves.”
The Santa Maria Capua Vetere Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation and so far, fifty-two members of the penitentiary police are involved in the case. Twenty-one defendants were sent under house arrest and twenty-three were removed from office.
Today, the center-left Democratic Party asked the Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabria, to inform the parliament in detail about this terrible event. For his part, Lega secretary Matteo Salvini said he was “in solidarity with the prison staff, stressing the need for more respect for the police force.”
