Pianosa, the Earthly Paradise Saved by Its Inmates

[Disir]

This was the low point in Pianosa’s contemporary history, but it had been through worse in earlier times. It was here that the Romans confined Octavian’s last, most problematic nephew, Agrippa Posthumus, who had a house with baths built by the sea. Its ruins can still be seen today. However, it is rumoured that he also had a sumptuous villa inland, right underneath the former maximum-security prison, not by chance known as “Diramazione Agrippa”. Christian catacombs extend beneath much of the island’s surface, with 700 graves already found. In 1553, meanwhile, Turkish pirates invaded Pianosa and wiped out the population. Subsequently, and for over two centuries, it remained deserted, until the Grand Duke of Tuscany converted it into an agricultural penal colony in the 19th century.

It was Italy’s Devil’s Island, like the penal colonies of Gorgona and Asinara, from where someone, Papillon-style, was always trying to escape. But with little luck. A convict once managed to cross the eight miles of sea separating Pianosa from Elba using the inner tube of a tractor tyre, but found the police waiting for him. With the maximum-security prison, life on the island became an inferno, both inside and outside the walls. Inside, there were hundreds of prisoners; on the outside, hundreds of prison guards and their families. The picturesque village was perpetually clogged with traffic jams, with people sitting in their cars with the windows down, chatting to people in the adjacent vehicle. The population of Pianosa had risen to 2,500 inhabitants, but they lived in absurd conditions. They were all prisoners, and none of them was happy.
Pianosa, the Earthly Paradise Saved by Its Inmates

3 out off 120? Amazing but I wonder if they have to deal with the mentally ill or half a dozen other factors.

 

[waltky]

Mebbe it'll be considered when they are sentenced or given plea deal...

Texas Inmates Break Out of Cell to Save Guard Who Stopped Breathing and Collapsed
Jul 9 2016 | A Texas jailer who suddenly stopped breathing is now alive and well — thanks to a group of inmates who busted out of a holding cell to save him.

The inmates were in the basement of the Weatherford District Courts Building on June 23 awaiting court appearances when the guard sitting outside their pen slumped onto the floor, Capt. Mark Arnett with the Parker County Sheriff's Office told NBC News. "He was just talking to them, and he just kind of collapsed," Arnett said Saturday. "As soon as the jailer went down, they started to yell." When that didn't attract the attention of anyone upstairs, the group of eight or so inmates, all of whom were shackled, broke out of their holding cell. "They grabbed his radio and tried to radio for help," Arnett said.

Deputies upstairs heard the commotion. They came down and called for emergency personnel, who performed CPR on the jailer and used a defibrillator to shock his heart. "He stopped breathing. They couldn't find a pulse on him," Arnett said. The entire incident was captured on surveillance video. The jailer, who doesn't want to be identified, is healthy now and is returning to work on Monday, Arnett said. The precise medical condition he suffered hasn't been disclosed.

Inmates in Texas broke out of a holding cell to save a deputy who stopped breathing​

One of the inmates, Nick Kelton, said he feared he would get in trouble for breaking out. "We were worried they're going to come with guns drawn on us," Kelton, who referred to himself as a meth addict often landing in jail, told ABC affiliate WFAA, which first reported the story.

The holding cell only has a "pretty flimsy lock gate" on it, unlike the reinforced doors of jail cells, Arnett said. "All the inmates, they're in handcuffs," he said. "We just stick them in there so they're not wandering around and so they don't grab somebody's gun." Arnett, however, praised the altruistic inmates for their quick action. "They definitely saved his life. There's no doubt about that," he said.

Texas Inmates Break Out of Cell to Save Guard's Life