Mafia boss Salvatore Riina has spent 24 years in prison. He was given a life sentence in a special detention facility called 41-bis, where he is prevented from having any contact with the outside world.

An ailing mobster

Everyone in Italy knows Riina's terrible history: as the leader of the Cosa Nostra mob, he personally ordered or committed countless awful crimes, including the murders of Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, two judges who actively pursued the mob and sentenced a great number of its members.

Now 86 years old, Riina is suffering from serious health issues. He is currently being held in hospital, albeit under heavy guard as he is still considered a threat to society.

Given his compromised health, his lawyers asked the Court of Surveillance in Bologna for a suspension of his sentence, or for him to be resentenced to house arrest, but the court refused these requests in light of the danger Riina still represents.

Humane detention

The Bologna court's decision was appealed to the Court of Cassation, which did not affirm the first judgment. In its ruling, the appellate court requested a clearer justification for the first-instance court's decision, as the Court of Cassation determined that simply "being dangerous" is not a good enough reason to prevent Riina from a decent death, to which every human being is entitled.

Riina's sentence is one that nobody would have ever paid attention to if it had been handed down to a different person, but the debate about his sentence has spread quickly across the national media landscape and triggered the most outraged reactions of the public, politicians, and the institutions involved.

Most of the people seem unwilling accept even the possibility that someone like Riina might spend the last days, months, maybe years, outside the walls of a prison.

These reactions are enlightening in that they reveal society's understanding of punishment and how it should be administered. But this prevailing understanding diverges greatly from human rights principles, not to mention Italian law.

Based on the overwhelming majority of reactions from citizens, most people want Riina to suffer and are outraged by the fact that he might get what every human being should have.

No release order

The Court of Cassation never ordered or suggested Riina's release. Instead, it only said that the previous court should reconsider the situation from all perspectives, especially with respect to national laws prescribing that nobody should be subjected to sentences that are inhumane, and that a sentence needs to be suspended when the health of the prisoner necessitates it.

It is very likely that, as has already happened for other mafia bosses before him, Riina will not be allowed to move to house arrest.

That final decision, however, will need to be properly motivated, as the law is equal for everyone, no matter the charges against them.

Antigone's stance on this complex issue

In response to the controversy, which shows no signs of abating, Patrizio Gonnella, the president of Antigone and CILD, released a statement that focused attention on what should be the most important consideration regarding Riina's sentence: putting human dignity at the center, even for those guilty of the most heinous crimes.

There are many in the same situation as Riina, people who used to be extremely dangerous but are now sick, old men in detention conditions that were intended for younger prisoners. Some of them are in such severe health states that it is impossible to still considering them a danger.

As for the social threat that Riina might still represent, it is the role of the police to ensure that, if he were to leave prison, he does create a risk of committing new crimes.

If the Court of Cassation did not do its job properly, it would mean that our conception of prison is punitive and vindictive. That is not what a strong, democratic country should be like.

"A strong, democratic country," says Patrizio Gonnella, "does not deliberately let anyone die in prison."