Torture at Beccaria: agents, ‘an educator exonerates us’

(ANSA) – MILAN, APRIL 24 – “They even called the educator (…) she said no they didn’t beat him”. “It’s true, you stated that we didn’t beat him.” Thus two officers of the Penitentiary Police, investigated in the investigation by the Milan Prosecutor’s Office into alleged mistreatment and torture in the Beccaria juvenile prison, referred, when intercepted, to a testimony “in their favour” of an “educator” in relation to a case of alleged beating of a minor prisoner last March. The investigations of the deputy Letizia Mannella and the prosecutors Rosaria Stagnaro and Cecilia Vassena, conducted by the Flying Squad and the Penitentiary Police, are now focusing, in addition to 4-5 other episodes of alleged violence, also on the suspected cover-ups and omissions of the top management of Beccaria, including the former acting director Maria Vittoria Menenti, but also of healthcare personnel and educators. With the ongoing collection of other testimonies, including from young people currently detained, and with the analysis of seized phones and other devices. Among other things, while the interrogations of other officers who ended up in prison will continue this afternoon, it emerges from the documents that some violence also occurred near the infirmary of the institute. A boy, then, regarding a beating suffered in November 2023, said: “They still hit me in the face on my nose which hurt so much (…) they took me to the infirmary (…) the inspector he spoke to a nurse in dialect (…) I only know that the nurse said that I had nothing, he didn’t treat me but just gave me some ice”. In the raid two days ago, investigators also seized medical records, which are now being examined. (HANDLE).