Stories

The incident

Giovanni Lorusso died in prison in Palmi (Reggio Calabria, Italy) on 17th November 2009, after apparently committing suicide. He was of Apulian origin, spent his childhood and youth in Bari and Milan, had taken drugs from a very early age and was addicted to them. All Lorusso's problems with the law were related to his drug addiction, and he had spent more than half of his 41 years in various prisons. Despite long periods in prisons and rehabilitation centres, he was unable to quit drugs. Because of this he was eventually classified as a “danger to society” and sent to a work-detention centre in Modena.

After being released on good conduct for a few days, Lorusso failed to report back to the detention centre and went instead to Rimini, where he stole a bag, with the intention of using the money to buy a train ticket to Bari. He was arrested and sentenced to 4 years, 5 months and 10 days of reclusion, with the application of the so-called “ex Cirielli” Law on recidivism, and began serving his sentence in Rimini prison. The lawyer acting for his family, Martina Montanari, managed to get a commitment from the Gabbiano therapeutic community in Colico, near Lecce, to take Lorusso in under house arrest while awaiting his final sentencing, as soon as a place was available. In the meantime, though, he was transferred to Ariano Irpino prison in Avellino. In a letter from there to his sister Maddalena, he wrote that he was suffering from being so far away from his family, that he had attempted suicide and that the prison officers had injured his hand. Shortly afterwards, inexplicably, Lorusso was transferred even further away to Palmi District Prison, near Reggio Calabria. At last, on 11th November, the Gabbiano therapeutic community notified the family lawyer that there would be a place for Lorusso as from 20th November. The lawyer immediately filed a request with the Bologna Court of Appeal.

The request was granted on 16th November. The reply was initially faxed to Ariano Irpino prison, where Lorusso was still being held, and only afterwards to Palmi. But nobody told Lorusso. On the following day, 17th November, he was found dead in his cell. The initial hypothesis was that he had committed suicide by putting a plastic bag over his head and inhaling gas from a cylinder. This news came as a complete shock to the family and their lawyer. They were not convinced by the explanation provided for Giovanni's death; he knew he was going to be out of prison soon and he had told his mother how he was looking forward to it.

The findings of the autopsy, performed almost 48 hours after the death, were uncertain. Both the expert appointed by the Public Prosecutor and the police doctor declared that the inhalation of the gas could not be ascertained beyond doubt because of the delay in conducting the autopsy.
The police doctor, though, did not rule out the hypothesis of the gas, despite the fact that there were no traces of it in Lorusso's body. But before Giovanni was buried, his sister Maddalena noticed a series of bruises on his face that had not been noted in the medico-legal examination. She reported it to the Palmi Public Prosecutor's Office and an inquiry was opened.

The trial

In a statement made by the lawyer acting for the family, Martina Montanari, a number of controversial points were raised: what were the reasons for the two transfers and the long period of isolation? How had Lorusso's hand come to be injured, and had it been properly medicated? How had it been possible for Lorusso to carry out an act of self-harm when he should have been under supervision? Had he been diagnosed as depressed? Was he taking psychoactive drugs? The prison psychiatrist, who had examined Lorusso on 12th November, made no mention of a suicide risk and the medical records do not state categorically whether there had been previous suicide attempts or whether the patient was depressed. The state of depression, therefore, which had been given as the main reason for the suicide, was not confirmed. These questions have not all been answered, and the inquiry is still going on.