Last week we learned about the suicide of Stefano Argentino in prison. A horrible affair, which brings to light several important points. As usual, the media communication and the public reaction were worrying and full of errors. The fact that it was the murderer of a young woman with whom everyone has empattered has made a theme more complex that is already difficult and delicate. This proximity to the girl and, consequently, the little sympathy for the boy, completely understandable, should not be exploited and exacerbated by the media, who create competitions and comparisons where there should be mainly respect for suffering.

Disinformation on compensation

The emblematic case is the question of compensation, exploited to create resentment and sense of injustice: we have read titles such as “The paradox”, “La Baffa”, and so on, because the family of him could receive compensation for the death of the son. Her family no, but again the two things are separated, and compensation for his life has nothing to do with the killing of her. Obviously there is a serious reason for this state of affairs, which was avoided to highlight: in the case of Campanella, the penalty was imposed on the culprit, and this is what the state had to the family. It is not that since he died and will not serve things, things change. On the contrary, Argentine’s family underwent the loss because of the state of the state, which has not fulfilled the task of surveillance and protection of the prisoner. No comparison between deaths, therefore, no privilege of one or the other. Moreover, that there is a discussion of money in this way as if it were a race to those who died worse and those who suffered more is gruesome.

Suicides in prison have been a problem for a long time

This event draws attention (without a doubt momentary, destined to end up at the next news) on the very evident and enormous problem of the conditions of the prisoners, among whom the suicide rate is very high: among the people in freedom the average is 0.59 every 10,000, among the prisoners 14.8, according to the count developed by small horizons. The number has been increasing for years, as reported by many associations, which have been ignored. In fact, the theme is of little interest for the public, as it concerns people deemed immense help and understanding: nobody wants to read the pains of the culprits.

What is prison for?

This has consequences, largely responsibility for the absence of politics and disinformation. The idea that prison must punish and make it suffer, instead of re -educating. In re -education it is not believed, not so much because it does not work (if the prisons were not cages for breeding chickens perhaps we could verify it), but because it is considered wrong in principle. One of the pillars of our system completely obsalted by many citizens, with the help, in fact, of the media and the uncontrolled jungle of social media. There is therefore little prevention towards the mental health of prisoners, which means poor control. In fact, Argentine’s lawyer had requested for a psychiatric report, having noticed that his client showed signs of mental suffering; But he had not been granted to him. Here is the responsibility of the state.

The monolithic vision does not help anyone

The typical rhetoric of these cases, which focuses everything on the “healthy son of patriarchy” issue, does not allow a more in -depth look. Recognizing mental suffering is equivalent to giving nuances to the executioner, which instead is monolithic: it is a bad, point. In reality, if the state fails in the re -education of the prisoner it is a defeat for everyone; Each suicide is a defeat for everyone. Not because we have to “cheer” for the culprit – which receives that pain because it is demonstrated as such – but because the spirit of our system is not to give punishment ends to oneself. Otherwise there would still be torture and the death penalty.