A 73-year-old Italian inmate from Calabria has barricaded himself inside his cell in the C6 section of Turin’s prison and has refused to leave for nearly three years. The case was brought to light by Filippo Blengino, national secretary of the Italian Radicals party, following a visit to the facility yesterday with representatives from Azione.
In a statement, Blengino declared that the man “only leaves his cell for forced medical treatment (TSO),” that his “evident psychiatric state is entirely incompatible with detention,” and that his overall condition is “unworthy, inhuman, and degrading.”
Prison staff are aware of the situation. The inmate is reported to suffer from a series of phobias, including a fear of dust. Informed sources have described him as a “cleanliness fanatic,” recounting an instance where he washed tomatoes with laundry detergent, distrusting the condition in which they were delivered. This fastidiousness, however, starkly contrasts with the “nauseating odor” Blengino reported emanates from the cell.
The man has covered the cell’s walls and its small window with tinfoil. Light enters only through a crack in the armored door, which is left slightly ajar to allow him into the corridor—an option he never takes.
Blengino has called for immediate institutional intervention “to put an end to a situation which, in years of visiting Italian prisons, we had never seen before.” He announced he has written to Justice Minister Carlo Nordio, the head of the penitentiary administration department (DAP), and the new regional guarantor for prisoners’ rights. Riccardo Magi, secretary of the +Europa party, has announced a formal parliamentary question to the Minister of Justice.