Almost a year after the historic ruling of Constitutional Court which guaranteed prisoners the right to confidential intimate conversations, the Dap continues to turn a deaf ear. The Guarantor for Lazio, Stefano Anastasiadenounces the absurd situation, calling it “inconceivable” for a rule of law. Sentence no. 10 of 26 January 2024 had opened the doors to confidential interviews, but ten months later, according to Anastasìa, “no prisoner has yet been able to take advantage of this right”.
The case of Viterbo is the tip of the iceberg: 102 prisoners, as reported by Il Dubbio, have been waiting for over 90 days for a response to their request for confidential interviews, presented on 2 June 2024. Faced with this inaction, the Guarantor Anastasìa intervened urgently, urging the prison management to act immediately. It is necessary that suitable spaces for reserved interviews are identified as soon as possible and that a new regulation of access to the institute is defined.
Anastasia points the finger at the Dapwhich would have blocked the initiatives of some prison managements ready to implement the sentence. The reason? Waiting for the results of a “mysterious ministerial study group”. A justification that the Guarantor deems unacceptable, underlining how in some institutions it would be sufficient to “obscure the windows on the doors of the rooms for meetings with family groups” to guarantee the confidentiality of the meetings. The case raises disturbing questions about institutions’ compliance with Constitutional Court rulings. Anastasìa hypothesizes that “the interdict of the most backward prison police unions which in 2018 prevented Minister Orlando from anticipating the ruling of the Constitutional Court” may still be in force at the Dap.
The matter could have legal repercussions: the prisoners, after complaints to the guarantors, will be able to turn to magistrates and supervisory courts, up to and including the European Court of Human Rights. «And we will be with them», assures Anastasia. The case of Viterbo is not isolated. Similar situations have occurred in other institutions, such as the Rebibbia prison, where 55 inmates presented a collective complaint. On that occasion, Anastasìa and her colleague from Roma Capitale, Valentina Calderone, had addressed a similar recommendation to the director of the institute last September.
Failure to implement the sentence not only violates the rights of prisoners, but it undermines the very credibility of democratic institutions. As the Guarantor underlines, “the implementation of the ruling of the Constitutional Court cannot be postponed” and “constitutes an obligation of guarantee on the part of the Penitentiary Administration”. It remains to be seen if and when the State will decide to respect its own laws, even within the prison walls. In the meantime, hundreds of prisoners are waiting to be able to exercise a right that the Constitutional Court recognized them 10 months ago, in a limbo of waiting that seems to have no end.
