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Italy

Capital city — Rome

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Panorama

Daily life

Activities

All prisoners are entitled to spend at least one hour a day in the open air

yes

The prison service offers activities to prisoners

yes

The prison service is required to organise cultural, physical, and recreational activities (Article 27 of the Prison Rules). The number and quality of the activities depends on several factors: the involvement of external participants, the goodwill of the warden, and local institutions. AS or 41-bis prisoners are not authorised to participate in communal activities with the others.

Poetry and rap workshops are now available in the juvenile prison of Catanzaro. A new library has also been opened. Theatre, cinema, poetry, and ceramics workshops are being organised in Ancona prisons.

  • Vito Cozzoli, the President and CEO of the public company “Sport and Health”, presented the “Sport for all – Prisons” project. This project aims to get prisoners exercising and doing sports activities, provide them with technical training, and give workers specific training on basic exercise in prison, in order to reintegrate them into the working world. He stated that prisoners have a right to reintegration and, as part of this right, they also have the right to sport.

    i
    10/05/2023
    / ANSA it

  • The prison service at the Rebibbia prison organises classes on applying makeup for transgender prisoners.

    i
    31/01/2023
    / Repubblica

There are designated places for physical activities and sports

yes

Most facilities have athletic fields and gymnasiums.

There are designated places for cultural activities

yes

The main cultural activities offered to prisoners are theatre workshops, film discussions, literature and writing workshops, art, journalism, and music.1
Theatre is a key socio-cultural activity. Antigone stresses the importance of this activity for the rehabilitation of prisoners.2

  1. Antigone, Fourteenth Report on Prison Conditions, 2018 (in Italian). ↩

  2. Antigone, Fifteenth Report on Prison Conditions, 2019 (in Italian). ↩

Number and percentage of prisoners who participate in socio-cultural activities

-

In 2018, the administration counted 34,896 prisoners who had participated in “cultural or recreational” activities, with as many as 4,665 prisoners having taken part in theatre workshops and 1,200 in the development of shows.

Number and percentage of prisoners who participate in sport activities

26.7 % (15,934)
i
2018
/ Ministry of Justice

Prisoners are not involved in the selection of their activities. This choice is up to the administration and external participants.

Access to activities is not subject to any conditions. Restrictions can, however, be imposed as part of disciplinary measures or on prisoners who are in solitary confinement.

Prison facilities have a library

most facilities

The largest facilities have a library in each section that is freely accessible when cells are open. Other facilities only possess a single library. Sign-up to a waiting list is required to access it.
Prisoners participate in a committee to select the books.

Work

Work is compulsory

no
i
Ministry of Justice

Number and percentage of prisoners who work

31.13 %

i
31/12/2021
/ Ministry of Justice, Detenuti lavoranti

At 31 December 2021 : 802 jobs in the industrial production sector (lavorazioni) 154 (colonie agricole) 13 946 (servizi d’istituto) 1 108 (manutenzione ordinaria fabbricati) 920 (servizi extramurari)

  • Antigone observed that 30% of prisoners work, of which 4.4% work for external employers.

    i
    17/01/2023
    / Repubblica

Variation in the number of prisoners who work

decrease

The number of prisoners who work decreases by 6,3 % between December 2019 (18 070)1 and December 2021 (16 930).

  1. ministry of Justice, Detenuti lavoranti ↩

All prisoners are allowed to work

yes

Prisoners convicted of having mafia associations or of other serious crimes are not authorised to work outside of prisons. They are allowed to work outside after serving 2/3 of their sentence.

Labour as a punitive measure is prohibited

yes

People desiring to work must sign up for a waiting list.

Most of the proposed jobs are in the scope of general service: cooking, meal distribution, maintenance, and laundry.
Some prisoners are assigned secretarial jobs or are tasked with writing documents for other prisoners.
However, the administration has its own fabrication workshops, for uniforms or furniture for example. 1

Around 2,000 prisoners work in a network of forty production cooperatives specialising in food and fashion accessories (handmade jewellery, artisanal products, local wines). About half of them work via day placement outside of the prison on farms or in wineries or neighbouring towns. The prisoners gain new skills and receive the same salary as other workers outside of prison. The products are stamped “made in Carcere” (made in prison) and sold in a specialty shop.

Prisoners produce wine on the island of Gorgona under the direction of Lamberto Frescobaldi. The 90 prisoners live alongside the island’s 17 residents and a few guards. They can work there for five years at the end of their sentences. They learn bricklaying, winemaking and winegrowing. Prisoners assigned to winemaking receive minimum wage.

A workshop to manufacture shirts for prison officers opened in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison.

  1. Ministry of Justice, Lavoro dei detenuti, 2019. ↩

Work is distributed in accordance with the skills required and with consideration to the duration of the prisoner’s sentence, the number of dependent children, and the economic situation of each individual prisoner.

Prisoners are paid for their work

yes

Around 22% of the country’s prisoners participate in the upkeep and operations of prisons without being compensated. They are also required to pay for their detention: around 120 euros per month. They are typically released “without skills, without money and in debt”.
Prisoners of several facilities make bags from scraps of fabric. These bags are sold in several supermarkets in the regions of Puglia and Calabria. The proceeds help to pay prisoners’ salaries.

Salaries are

slightly below the national minimum wage

Wages cannot be below two thirds of wages for the same job on the outside. According to Antigone, the number of hours worked is low. The average gross salary received is €560 per month.

Their income is subject to social contributions

yes

Prisoners have the right to join trade unions

no

Education and vocational training

Authority(ies) in charge of education and vocational training

Ministry of Education, universities and research.

In 2019, the Ministry of Education, Universities, and Research formed an agreement with the Ministry of Justice in order to bolster education in prisons.

Prisoners enrolled in educational training

35.3 % (21,071)
i
Antigone, Fifteenth Report on Prison Conditions, 2019

In 2018, there were 20,357 prisoners pursuing scholastic endeavours. More than half of them were foreigners, and most were taking reading or Italian courses. The number of prisoners pursuing a university education was 714 for the same period. It primarily included Italians.

The regional prison heads organise vocational training with authorities and agencies for local employment.

Education is provided

in all facilities

Education is available for all prisoners

yes

The administration is required to pay particular attention to the education and training of prisoners under the age of 25 (Article 19 of the Prison Rules).

The prison service implements measures to fight illiteracy

yes

Prisoners are allowed to pass diplomas and entry examinations

yes

Number and percentage of prisoners enrolled in vocational training

4.2 % (2,506)
i
09/2019
/ Ministry of Justice

Vocational training is provided

yes

The main training courses offered are in art and culture, food and beverage, construction, agriculture, and gardening.

Prisoners from the Lecce casa circondariale can pursue sommelier training. Other facilities, such as the Bollate casa di reclusione in Milan, have a restaurant for training for careers in food and beverage. The Bollate restaurant is open to the public.

Vocational training is available for all prisoners

no

The number of places for these training courses is limited.

Distance courses are available

yes

Restrictive prison regimes and a lack of facilitators or teachers often leads to distance learning.

Prisoners have access to computers

in some facilities

In some facilities, prisoners following a university programme can use computers.1 It is the case of the Borgo San Nicola de Lecce prison. This facility has, since 2022, a classroom equipped with computers destined to prisoners taking a course at the University of Salento.

  1. Antigone, Fifteenth Report on Prison Conditions, 2019 (in Italian). ↩

Access to information

Prisoners are allowed to keep themselves informed regularly on public affairs

yes

Prisoners have access to a television

yes

There is usually a television in activity rooms, common areas, or in cells.

Prisoners have access to a radio

yes

Prisoners have access to the press

yes

The prison service allows access to Internet

in some facilities

Internet access is possible in some facilities for sending emails, conducting videoconferencing interviews, or university studies.

Religion

The latest official statistics on the confession of prisoners date from December 2016. Catholic prisoners represented 54.7% of the prison population. Muslims and Orthodox prisoners represented 11.4% and 4.2% respectively. A significant number of prisoners refused to answer the questionnaire.

Prisoners are free to practice their religion and follow their beliefs

yes

Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees the freedom of worship to all.

Dedicated places of worship are available

in all facilities

All facilities have a Catholic place of worship.
Antigone highlights the fact that 22% of facilities visited in 2018 did not have places of worship other than Catholic. A large number of prisoners exercise their religion in their cells, without the possibility of collective practice.

There are chaplains in the prisons

depends on the religions

The prison administration has established conventions with the Vatican and the Union of the Italian Islamic Community and Organisations (UCOII). Some facilities benefit exclusively from Catholic chaplains.

The prison service remunerates the chaplains

depends on the religions

The administration only pays Catholic chaplains. Religious guidance is provided on a voluntary basis.

External actors

Individuals or organisations from the outside are allowed to participate in prison activities

yes

Authorisations for external actors to take part in prison activities are provided by

the prison governor and the supervisory magistrate

The administration makes annual agreements with the different associations. Authorisation of entry for an individual person must come from the warden and the supervisory magistrate. (Article 78 of the Prison Rules).

Catholic associations, such as Caritas, are especially present in prisons. Numerous athletic associations, legal assistance groups, and associations for the maintenance of familial relationships such as Bambinisenzasbarre) have permission to enter.

Most external participants are volunteers.

Financial resources

Prisoners are allowed to make use of financial resources

yes

Prisoners who work receive payment through a savings account. Their loved ones can send them money either by postal money order, at the prison service window during a visit, or by bank wire in certain prisons. Prisoners can also send up to 350 EUR per month to their loved ones.[^note] [^note]: Ministry of Justice, Inviare soldi a ricevere soldi da persona detenuta, 2019.

Financial resources are accessible

in an account

Those who are only accused can keep up to 2,065.82 EUR in a personal account. Convicted prisoners cannot have more than 1,032.91 EUR. The administration keeps anything in excess of these amounts in a separate bank account for the condemned person.

Destitute prisoners receive financial or in-kind support

yes

The administration is required to provide in-kind assistance (clothing, hygienic products) to destitute prisoners. Aid is most often provided by associations.

Expression of prisoners

Prisoners are allowed to discuss matters relating to their conditions of imprisonment

yes

Any request made to the prison administration is made exclusively by filling out a form (domandina). This may relate to prison conditions.

Prisoners have the right of association

no

Prisoners have the right to vote

yes, convicted prisoners with a sentence of less than three years

Article 28 of the Penal Code specifies the procedures for suspension of civic rights.

Some prisons have workshops for audiovisual and written productions. Prisoners in the Padua and Venice (women) prisons contribute to an online newspaper, Ristretti.
Prisoners in Rebibbia (Rome), Bollate (Milan), and Vallette (Turin) produce a weekly radio programme titled Jailhouse Rock. It is rebroadcast in different regions by local radio stations.