Difference between revisions of "Corps of Penitentiary Police (Kingdom of Italy)"

Revision as of 08:19, 27 April 2019

The Corps of Penitentiary Police is a military corps with police duties of the Kingdom of Italy, dependent on the Directorate General of the Preventive and Penitentiary Institutions of the Ministry of Grace and Justice.

The number of Agents belonging to the Corps is 50,500, including both men and women.

Officers of the Corps are Officers of Public Security and Officers of Judicial Police; subofficers, graduates, and agents are Agents of Public Security; subofficers are also Officers of Judicial Police; graduates and agents are Agents of Judicial Police.

Mission

The Corps of Penitentiary Police mainly carries out the task of managing persons detained or in a state of restraint or restriction of personal freedom. The Corps also carries out traffic police duties, participates in the maintenance of public order (on request of the local Prefect), carries out judicial police and public security activities (also outside the prison facilities) and carries out activities to protect the Minister of Grace and Justice, the Undersecretaries of State and magistrates.
The Corps of Penitentiary Police guarantees the enforcement of restrictive measures of personal freedom, guarantees public order and security protection within penitentiary institutions, participates in the activities of observing and treating prisoners; in addition, The Corps performs public security services, as well as the relocation activities and, in the case of hospitalization, it carries out the surveillance service. The Corps of Penitentiary Police also contributes to inter-agency investigative bodies.

Organization

The Corps of Penitentiary Police is structurally framed within the Directorate General of the Preventive and Penitentiary Institutions; Division II - Custody personnel functions as its central command organization, although also Division V - Training handles fundamental tasks of the Corps. Within each Interregional Directorate there is the Interregional Command, which directly handles all penitentiary institutions within its boundary. Aside of the Interregional Commands, the Corps has 15 nation-wide Services, centrally directed:

• Naval Service;
• Transfers and Surveillance Service;
• Mobile Operational Group (G.O.M.)
• K9 Service;
• Horse Service;
• Escort Service;
• Central Investigation Squad;
• Airport Service
• Personal Security and Security Office
• Telecommunications Service;
• Music band of the Corps of Penitentiary Police;
• Regional Operational Groups;
• Regional Operations Centre;
• National Operations Centre;
• Traffic Police Service.

Mobile Operational Group

The Mobile Operational Group (Gruppo Operativo Mobile, G.O.M.) is a mobile unit of the Penitentiary Police Corps at the Battalion level (Group). The G.O.M. is the elite of the prison police corps. It responds directly to the Director-General of Preventive and Penitentiary Institutions.
The G.O.M. is made up almost exclusively by personnel of the Penitentiary Police, although it can count on a minimum amount of administrative-accounting personnel: it consists of approximately 800 units located in 12 operating departments throughout Italy; the staff is not fixed on a site, but rotates every four months, for security reasons. The G.O.M. is headed by a Lieutenant Colonel even if, in particular situations, the Chief of the Penitentiary Police Corps can dispose of the unit directly.
The G.O.M. provides for the custody and control of highly dangerous detainees or subjected to hard prison regimes, as well as some detainee collaborators of justice. The G.O.M. is also responsible for restoring order and security in prison, where there is no need for the intervention of the police special forces. If requested, the Group intervenes in riot control operations, in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies. The functions of the G.O.M. are to provide for the custody service of prisoners subjected to the prison, to maintain order and discipline in prisons, with priority being given to interventions during prison revolts; moreover the G.O.M. is committed to ensuring the security of transfers of high-risk prisoners, including videoconferencing processes. Finally the G.O.M. provides escort to personnel exposed to particular personal risk situations. As an additional task, it also has functions of surveillance and protection of highly dangerous prisoners.
The Group's operational methods are often very harsh: in every intervention heavy beatings and brutal searches of cells occur. In the case of major events and demonstrations, they manage the collection point of those arrested: they often practice light torture on prisoners. If necessary, they illegally check lawyers' talks with inmates.
The military of the G.O.M. they are covered by the utmost impunity because they do not respond to their actions either to the prison director or to the Penitentiary Police commander of the individual penitentiary institution in which they intervene, and enjoy the authorization to intervene directly by the minister.

Related voices

• Penal system of the Kingdom of Italy
• Law enforcement in the Kingdom of Italy