A prisoner killed himself by hanging himself last night in his cell, in the Due Palazzi prison in Padua. The 27-year-old man, of Venetian origin, had been locked up since August, serving a sentence that would have ended in mid-2028.
He was confined to a cell on the first floor of the penitentiary. The news of the suicide, spread by 'Ristretto 'Orizzonti' through the volunteers of the Mustard Seed association, has been confirmed at the level of the prison administration.
The story of the suicidal detainee was recalled by Manuela, a volunteer who was his teacher.
They had found themselves among the books in the prison library, he convicted of a bad crime and she, his former teacher, a volunteer in the association that
brings inmates closer to reading, to make life behind four walls less difficult. Today Stefano (not his real name) is no longer with us: he took off his vault by hanging himself last night at the Due Palazzi in Padua. She, Manuela, wanted to remember him with an open letter - released by the non-profit organization 'Granello di Senape' - in which she stopped some of the most beautiful and profound moments of the life of this 27-year-old, who decided to end it inside a cell.
"The last time I saw him, it was him, he was walking sadly in front of me in the corridor with an agent, but when I arrived at the gate they had disappeared - writes Manuela - I had recognized him by his walk and by his figure, which was quite massive". In the library, on the other hand, the woman explains that she had been struck "by his gaze and the way he moved: two had arrived, the other rather rude, he taciturn, had reminded me of a middle school student of mine from many years before. Then a few sentences and we recognized each other. 'Prof, but he had long, blond hair...' Yes, and he, Stefano, was a very special kid."
"Well, we found ourselves in the middle of the books - the story continues - When he went down to the library, during my shift, we talked, we talked about his projects, music, writing. The second time he took an interest in the poetry contest that was about to expire; With the help of another volunteer, we were able to send a poem dedicated to a girl by the end of the day. The pace was right, I just made a few adjustments with his consent." Not only poetry found a place in Stefano's soul: "the third time," Manuela writes, "he brought me three handwritten sheets of paper, with philosophical reflections (the week before he had taken a text by Nietzsche). He wanted me to read them with him, and we did. I asked him for explanations of various expressions, and he gave me his answers." They were probably a collage of phrases selected from philosophical texts, "those that had struck him, I think, in which he recognized himself."
In Manuela's writing, the memory then goes back to when the boy happened to be between her head and neck at the beginning of the school year, in the middle school of a family home in the province of Padua run by the association to which she belongs: "I never attended school regularly, no idea what any regulation was. But he still knew how to make himself well-liked - he continues in the story - He was my student for two years, first and second grade, in the end we almost made it. Of course, every now and then he would leave the classroom and then... Chases down the corridors and stairs, dangerous things, I don't think his teammates have ever had so much fun. We decided to always be two of us, so that we wouldn't have to abandon him or the others."
That year, however, ended badly: the majority vote of the school board - "of course I didn't agree" - rejected Stefano. He, however, had grown fond of his classmates of those first two years and of the teachers: "one day," Manuela continues, "during a lesson, I saw the boys looking out of the window with wide eyes: it was him, on the ledge of the first floor that ran around the façade. He had come to greet us, leaving the window of his classroom and reaching ours, he smiled at us, this was Stefano." He came from a modest and large family, which struggled to follow him. Twice
he managed to reach his parents' town (in another province) by bicycle, escaping from the family home. Manuela concludes: "She used to tell me 'I can't wait to be eighteen'. And what are you going to do?" He laughed, 'I'm going back to my house.'"
They had found themselves among the books in the prison library, he convicted of a bad crime and she, his former teacher, a volunteer in the association that
brings inmates closer to reading, to make life behind four walls less difficult. Today Stefano (not his real name) is no longer with us: he took off his vault by hanging himself last night at the Due Palazzi in Padua. She, Manuela, wanted to remember him with an open letter - released by the non-profit organization 'Granello di Senape' - in which she stopped some of the most beautiful and profound moments of the life of this 27-year-old, who decided to end it inside a cell.
"The last time I saw him, it was him, he was walking sadly in front of me in the corridor with an agent, but when I arrived at the gate they had disappeared - writes Manuela - I had recognized him by his walk and by his figure, which was quite massive". In the library, on the other hand, the woman explains that she had been struck "by his gaze and the way he moved: two had arrived, the other rather rude, he taciturn, had reminded me of a middle school student of mine from many years before. Then a few sentences and we recognized each other. 'Prof, but he had long, blond hair...' Yes, and he, Stefano, was a very special kid."
"Well, we found ourselves in the middle of the books - the story continues - When he went down to the library, during my shift, we talked, we talked about his projects, music, writing. The second time he took an interest in the poetry contest that was about to expire; With the help of another volunteer, we were able to send a poem dedicated to a girl by the end of the day. The pace was right, I just made a few adjustments with his consent." Not only poetry found a place in Stefano's soul: "the third time," Manuela writes, "he brought me three handwritten sheets of paper, with philosophical reflections (the week before he had taken a text by Nietzsche). He wanted me to read them with him, and we did. I asked him for explanations of various expressions, and he gave me his answers." They were probably a collage of phrases selected from philosophical texts, "those that had struck him, I think, in which he recognized himself."
In Manuela's writing, the memory then goes back to when the boy happened to be between her head and neck at the beginning of the school year, in the middle school of a family home in the province of Padua run by the association to which she belongs: "I never attended school regularly, no idea what any regulation was. But he still knew how to make himself well-liked - he continues in the story - He was my student for two years, first and second grade, in the end we almost made it. Of course, every now and then he would leave the classroom and then... Chases down the corridors and stairs, dangerous things, I don't think his teammates have ever had so much fun. We decided to always be two of us, so that we wouldn't have to abandon him or the others."
That year, however, ended badly: the majority vote of the school board - "of course I didn't agree" - rejected Stefano. He, however, had grown fond of his classmates of those first two years and of the teachers: "one day," Manuela continues, "during a lesson, I saw the boys looking out of the window with wide eyes: it was him, on the ledge of the first floor that ran around the façade. He had come to greet us, leaving the window of his classroom and reaching ours, he smiled at us, this was Stefano." He came from a modest and large family, which struggled to follow him. Twice
he managed to reach his parents' town (in another province) by bicycle, escaping from the family home. Manuela concludes: "She used to tell me 'I can't wait to be eighteen'. And what are you going to do?" He laughed, 'I'm going back to my house.'"
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA