SCAFATI – The memory of Jhonny Cirillo, the 23-year-old rapper from Scafati who committed suicide last July 26 in Salerno prison where he was detained for a robbery, will be kept alive thanks to an urban garden. It will be built on a land of about 3 thousand square meters owned by the family of Domenico Cuomo. A space that can be used for the organization of activities useful for people destined to be entrusted to social services or to test those who want to give their lives a second chance. The project was confirmed by Don Peppino De Luca, parish priest of the church of San Francesco da Paola in Scafati, already known for the Casa di Francesco, the home that houses people in need and homeless. «For some years now our community has been welcoming young and old people to carry out this type of alternative path – he said -. As well as the Juvenile Court of Salerno has entrusted to our attention the social reintegration paths of some children. On Saturday, at the end of the ceremony in memory of the victims of the mafia, I announced that we would be protagonists of this initiative. Our intentions are to start cleaning the area soon and to begin work ». The project, therefore, provides for the recovery of those who have outstanding accounts with the justice and who have the requisites to be able to access an alternative path to that of detention.
In fact, since 2014, the accused of non-serious crimes can request, during the criminal proceedings, the suspension of the same to undergo probation as required by law. Among the possibilities offered there is that of carrying out activities of social importance. The measure is in any case subject to the carrying out of public utility works. Social recovery and rebirth are the “hook” values of the initiative which aims to name the urban garden after Jhonny Cirillo, thus recalling the young scafatese of Somali origin, who committed suicide last July in a cell in the Salerno prison , where she was detained for a robbery at a well-known scafatese pharmacy that took place a few months earlier.
«This space of rebirth will be realized in the fund of the family of the engineer Domenico Cuomo – continued Don Peppino De Luca -. On Friday the grant was signed on loan for use of the fund to our parish -. The land is just behind the church. The project will also be followed by the Emmaus association, a reality that already takes care of the House of Francis ». Now the idea is to create a public park to be entrusted to people who decide to serve the rest of their sentence in socially useful jobs.
“It will be a place open to men and women who want to start living again, despite personal events, concluded the priest, former Knight of the Republic.” We will tell, through these works, the will to live of our Jhonny, surely extinguished too soon by that monster he had inside him. We will definitely try to give these people a chance that Giovanni was denied, because I still like to call him that. We will tell the beautiful stories he has come across, the bright smiles but also the tears ».
Ilaria Cotarella