Jails: Mastella and Naples Archbishop in Poggioreale
Jul 30, 2006
There was a 3-hour visit by Justice Minister Clemente Mastella and the archbishop cardinal from Naples Crescenzio Sepe in the Neapolitan jail Poggioreale.
(AGI) - Naples, July 22 - At the meeting with prisoners and the penitentiary's police personnel there was also the participation of undersecretary Luigi Scotti. Pardons were one of the main issues in the talks in the chapel of the penitentiary holding around 300 prisoners, along with overcrowding in the jail and a lack of resources for the justice system, problems touched on in the following visit by the Justice Minister and the high-ranking prelate, first to prisoners in high-security sections, then those in the hospital ward, and at the end with officers. "We are asking for an act of clemency on the part of Minister Clemente", said Cardinal Sepe, echoing the "desire expressed by the Servant of God John Paulo II during the Jubilee. I am therefore asking for an act of clemency, which does not mean simply pardoning". This sentence gave way to a round of applause by prisoners who chanted "Sepe, Sepe", exactly as they had chanted "Mastella, Mastella", when the minister said that he had heard their cry of pain for a pardon. Poggioreale is one of the most crowded penitentiaries in Italy; its director Salvatore Acerra put the number of prisoners currently being held at approximately 2,200, at times reaching 2,500 in the last few weeks, for an overall total between those who have entered and those who have left at 15,000. Mastella stressed that "it is my duty and my task" to visit Poggioreale and other Italian jails, and has promised another visit at Christmas. The South and the city of Naples have a "serious" need", said the Justice Minister, that institutions "not be cold" when confronted with the spiral of criminality, and that they work on preventative measures alongside the Church, schools and families to "eliminate the loss of the young". Congratulations were given to him by prisoners and then Cardinal Sepe for his son's wedding this afternoon. The Naples archbishop, in addition to conveying a special blessing to him for the bride and the groom, also gave him a white envelope and told him to give it to the couple without opening it. Mastella and Sepe, who have known each other for quite some time, provide some entr'actes for those present at the visit, including prisoners. When the Justice Minister climbed onto the platform of the jail's church to receive alongside the cardinal the prisoners' gifts, and the master of ceremonies changed the chair of purplish-red velvet with a more modest one, but on an equal standing with that of the minister. "I don't need the chair", said Sepe with a smile. "And it wasn't given to me", noted Mastella, who in the front row was sitting on a chair the same as the one given to the cardinal. "It's ok, but there are chairs which arm too uncomfortable", replied one of the four jail chaplains who coordinated the event. The most heart-felt applause by prisoners went first to Mastella, when at the end of his speech he was urged by the president of the Naples surveillance court Angelica Di Giovanni to underline his commitment to the South, and he told of his passion for football and the cry "Forza Napoli". The Cardinal Sepe then was granted a standing ovation when the master of ceremonies publicly said that, in addition to the wooden rosaries for the prisoners, he had expressed the intention of giving out cigarettes. "It cannot be done", said the chaplain, "because also the chaplains smoke". "And also the cardinal smokes", calmly remarked Sepe, holding up a packet of MS cigarettes. The justice minister promised penitentiary police attention and resources even if "there are cuts in store for everyone", stating his intention to hold in Naples "a national conference of penitentiary police to give a wide-ranging institutional response to the petitions raised by them". As far as the complaints of Neapolitan magistrates on the lack of means, the justice mini.
Jails: Mastella and Naples Archbishop in Poggioreale