The Penitentiary Administration is mobilizing in favor of the territories and communities of the Tuscany region hit hard in recent days by the flood emergency. Penitentiary Police in public order and control of the territory and prisoners at work in cleaning and restoring the greenery. It is the Head of the Department, Giovanni Russo, who summarizes the situation in a note.
“Two different initiatives have been launched through the Regional Authority of Florence and some Tuscan penitentiary institutions close to the areas most affected by the overflows and floods and in full collaboration with the local institutions and judiciary.
The first concerns the Penitentiary Police personnel serving in the prison of Prato who, under the coordination of the local Prefecture, are collaborating with the other law enforcement agencies in public order and security activities and to guarantee the surveillance of the territory against phenomena of profiteering. For two days already, around ten officers aboard Corps vehicles have been patrolling the area of the Municipality of Montemurlo, the hamlet of Seano in the Municipality of Carmignano and the Figline neighborhood in Prato. And yesterday, during some checks carried out together with a Carabinieri patrol from the Montemurlo department, they arrested a man caught stealing 80 kilos of copper wires.
The other initiative will start on Tuesday morning and involves the use of 12 inmates from the Gozzini penitentiary institute in Florence who will be involved in interventions to remove mud and restore public greenery in areas of the Florentine territory indicated by the Civil Protection. Thanks to the prompt availability of the supervisory judiciary of Florence, the identified prisoners will be released every day to carry out public utility work for the benefit of the community, as required by the art. 20 ter of the Penitentiary Regulations, and under the control of Penitentiary Police personnel. They will be equipped with adequate personal protective equipment and insurance coverage.
As Head of the Department I express proud appreciation for initiatives such as these, which arise from a vision of all-round commitment that the Penitentiary Administration intends to offer at a national level, giving impetus to demonstrations of social solidarity.
Finally, I want to once again thank the women and men of the Penitentiary Police Corps who also on this occasion, as in the past when faced with other environmental or health emergencies, responded sensitively to the requests for help coming from the area, without hesitating to carry out extraordinary work at the end of the daily shift in the institution to put themselves at the service of the community and the institutions.