Fury over plans to dump mafia prisoners in European tourist hotspot | World | News
Residents of a beautiful Italian region are fighting plans to dump hundreds of maximum security prisoners in prisons. Giorgia Meloni’s government argues that concentrating 750 of the country’s most dangerous mobsters, murderers and domestic terrorists in a small number of private facilities would improve security; Sardinia, a large island in the west of Italy, was ordered to take one-third of the criminals. But the islanders were fiercely opposed to the plans, fearing that Sardinia would become the equivalent of Cayenne, a former French penal colony called Devil’s Island and made famous in Henri Charrière’s 1969 book Papillon.
The popular tourist destination, which welcomed a record 4.5 million holidaymakers in 2024, will house criminals in three prisons, one of which is in the capital Cagliari. Locals also worry that the move will make Sardinia a more dangerous place to live, luring families and friends of prisoners to settle on the island and attracting the island’s low-wage and unemployed residents into their own criminal organizations.
Sardinian regional governor Alessandra Todde is among the residents who have taken to the streets of Cagliari in recent weeks to protest the upcoming measures.
Miss Todde said. Telegram: “Sardinia has no intention of becoming the Cayenne of Italy. We have always done our part in the fight against the mafia and organized crime, but we cannot accept such an unfair distribution. [of prisoners].
“These are men who represent the highest echelons of mafia organizations, from the ‘Ndrangheta to the Camorra, and they will have a profound influence on the island.”
Sardinian lawmaker Silvio Lai of the opposition Democratic Party also warned that the mafia presence in less developed parts of the island, including the city of Nuoro, could have negative effects on tourist hotels and resorts.
“Weak economies can be easily infiltrated, and Nuoro is about an hour’s drive from the Costa Smeralda,” he told Reuters, referring to Sardinia’s best-known coastline, which is home to beautiful beaches and luxury accommodation.
Maria Cristina Ornano, president of the criminal enforcement court in Cagliari, also warned: “Once organized crime takes root here, we cannot get rid of it.”
But Ms. Meloni’s conservative coalition insisted that mass action would not pose a security risk.
Justice Undersecretary Andrea Demmastro Delle Vedove told county officials in December: “This [plan] It will provide greater national security… [it] “We will make individual prisons safer because only specialist prison guard units will be staffed.”
