Dear Director Feltri,
How do you explain the increase in suicides among law enforcement officers, particularly in the prison police force?
Barbara of Jerome
Dear Barbara,
in fact, there have already been 35 suicides among law enforcement officers since January 1st of this year. Seven of these cases were penitentiary police officers, but the average number of suicides is also high among the Carabinieri, so much so that a Report on the state of military discipline and the state of the organization of the Armed Forces (Ministry of Defense, year 2022) shows that suicides are the second cause of death, after illness, among the Carabinieri.
You ask me why those who wear the uniform are so at risk of resorting to an extreme gesture. Good question. Evidently there is an underlying malaise that derives from or is at least exacerbated by working conditions. We know that our agents are subjected to grueling shifts, especially those in the penitentiary, due to staff shortages. The wages are paltry, especially when we consider that the cost of living has increased significantly and salaries have not adjusted. Then we must take into account the dangers that the job entails, therefore the stress that the individual is forced to endure on a daily basis.
However, some studies highlight other triggering factors: first of all, family and personal problems, or the onset of physical or psychiatric disorders. Suicides exclusively attributable to work would be 1.48%. Yet I wonder how such a distinction can be made. I think that work has a greater weight, it is an essential part of our existence. This is why I am convinced that it has a much greater impact than that 1%. Perhaps it is uncomfortable to admit it.
We are talking about all-encompassing professions, that is, professions that completely absorb those who hold certain roles, the rhythms are tight, sometimes you are transferred frequently, the time to dedicate to the family, or in any case free time, is scarce. Furthermore, every day we are confronted with situations of discomfort and hardship, with the suffering and desperation of others, we have to deal with criminals, but also with dejected, defeated, heartbroken people, with people who suffer from serious addictions, with victims and with executioners. This happens in particular to prison officers, who experience prison and its discomforts on a daily basis, although not as prisoners, who also kill themselves frequently, just evaluate the data: in penitentiary institutions, where overcrowding has reached 130%, we have recorded 64 suicides since the beginning of 2024.
Well, how can we believe that all this does not leave a mark on the soul of those who observe it and breathe it constantly?
I am convinced that we underestimate the discomfort of our agents. They kill each other but this does not seem to be our problem, but it is. We expect them to always perform, strong, courageous, that they do not show signs of weakness or surrender, that they embody strength and security. When they intervene and resort to the truncheon, as per procedures, we complain; when they do not intervene as we would like, too. We criticize them. We accuse them. We judge them. We put them on trial. We lash out at them when they do their duty.
We are never satisfied, even though they are at our service and on our side. We would like them to be unbreakable. Perfect. But under those uniforms, which are not magic shields, there are human beings, with their fragilities, fears, uncertainties.
Humans who need nothing more than understanding.