MILAN                  -              Six inmates have died after riots broke out at 27 prisons in Italy over new restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of coronavirus,
local media say.In Milan, prisoners set fire to part of the San Vittore prison before protesting on the roof after
they were told that visits had been suspended. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the coronavirus outbreak was Italy’s “darkest hour”. With 366 deaths now confirmed, Italy is the worst-hit country after China. Italy’s govt has pledged to further increase spending in a “massive shock therapy” to offset
the economic impact of the outbreak. The country is struggling
to adapt to the most restrictive
measures since World War Two, introduced on Sunday. Up to 16 million people in northern Italy
now need permission to travel under quarantine rules. The trouble began in the northern city of Modena, where three people were reported to have died at the Sant’Anna prison,
while a further three died after being transferred from there. It is thought that at least two of the dead lost their lives to drug overdoses after they raided a prison hospital for the heroin substitute methadone. At San Vittore prison in Milan, detainees set fire to a cell block on one of the facility’s six wings, then climbed onto the roof through windows and started waving banners, officials said. At a prison in the southern city of Foggia, about 20 inmates managed to break out of the building during protests. Many were quickly recaptured, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported. There were also riots at several other prisons in northern Italy and at facilities in Naples and the capital, Rome.Cases of the virus have been confirmed in all 20 Italian regions,
with the total number of infections now at 6,387. Mr Conte
said: “These days, I have been thinking about the old speeches of [Winston] Churchill - it is our