Four detainees attempted to escape overnight and knotted sheets, probably used to flee cells, were found by guards, according to security sources.

Mattresses were set on fire to create chaos and enable detainees to attempt an evasion, prompting the intervention of firefighters.

The flames did not cause extensive damage to the facility and only one of the inmates required hospitalisation due to smoke inhalation but was not in serious condition, the sources said.

Overall, a reported eight detainees and police officers were injured in the incident, none of them seriously, the sources said.

Four detainees who attempted to escapee were found by police on the building’s roof a few hours after the riot began at around 22:00 on Saturday.

The justice ministry said on Sunday that the riot was over and had caused “significant damage” to part of the facility.

The secretary general of penitentiary police union Uilpa Gennarino De Fazio said “all 58 detainees” held at the Beccaria took part in the riot and that “several” attempted to escape.

De Fazio said in the statement that the riot was proof of “organisational failure” regarding the management of juvenile prisons.

Earlier this month, about 50 youths gained control of most of the Ferrante Aporti prison in Turin, setting cells on fire, damaging offices and corridors and attacking guards.

The group of underage detainees who staged the riot were later transferred

ANSA