Six dead in Italy as prisoners riot over coronavirus emergency lockdowns
Prisoners across Italy are rioting after the government issued emergency coronavirus countermeasures barring jail visits — with six people dying amid a fracas in one facility in the northern part of the country, according to new reports.
Riots broke out in almost dozen Italian prisons Sunday — including one in Foggia, where inmates climbed onto a roof in an escape attempt — but were thwarted by armed police surrounding the building, according to the Mirror.
And in Modena, about 60 inmates irate over a new measure that banned family and friends from visiting due to the newly enacted lockdown set a prison on fire in an attempt to escape Sunday, Italian outlet Corriere de Bologna reported.
Army troops and officers with the Carabinieri military police responded in force and prevented nearly 500 prisoners from escaping, according to reports.
But some inmates stormed the prison’s infirmary and managed to snatch methadone and other drugs, a source told the Italian outlet.
At least two of the inmates may have died of overdoses, the Mirror reported.
Two prison officers were also injured, according to the report.
Meanwhile, relatives of the inmates were also protesting outside the facility, the outlet reported.
Authorities eventually restored order and the inmates returned to their cells, but the investigation is ongoing.
The uprisings occurred after Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced a sweeping quarantine in the northern region of Lombardy and 14 nearby provinces, affecting 16 million people.
The death toll from the virus in the country had climbed to at least 366 people Sunday, with at least 7,000 cases.
