The virus has finally entered prison: the inmates' anger, violently expressed during the riots that have affected the prison population of over twenty institutions since March 7, following the confusing communications regarding the Ministry of Justice's intention to suspend, among other things, special releases and visits to the outside world, has been intertwined with the fear that news about the virus itself, its effects, and its consequences have sparked in a situation of perennial prison overcrowding that has characterized Italian penitentiaries for years. Despite the high walls that forcefully separate the prison facility from the rest of the territory, recent news reports confirm the first case of an inmate infected with the virus, a resident, paradoxically, of the high-security prison in Voghera. This was followed by the Ministry's official announcement of nine additional similar cases from other institutions, which had been deliberately suppressed, and which were reportedly promptly identified, isolated, and transferred to hospital.
The dangers of contagion are now clear: how could anyone have imagined that the famous one-meter social distance, so vital outside, could be guaranteed inside prison facilities, too small and dilapidated to contain a population that, despite stable crime rates, continues to rise? Indeed, experts have immediately urged the competent authorities to finally consider the possibility of granting access to the various alternative measures to those eligible for it, thus reducing the number of inmates and preventing this pandemic, already difficult to manage outside, from turning into another, entirely avoidable, epidemic inside prison, thus compounding the many long-standing problems there.
For this reason, Minister of Justice Alfonso Bonafede has inserted several provisions to this effect into the " Cura Italia " decree. These include, in particular, access to house arrest for inmates with less than 18 months remaining in their sentences, furloughs for those on day release (currently until June 30), and electronic bracelets "where available" to monitor convicted adults (though there are very few such bracelets). The new regulations, however, are not only insufficient or ineffective in alleviating overcrowding, but also address a complex set of critical issues that only temporary emergencies, like the one we are experiencing now, bring to public attention.
Why that violence on the rooftops?
< >
With these words, taken from his monumental work " Discipline and Punish : The Birth of Prison ," the French philosopher Michel Foucault underscores a truly important reality, evident even today in the Italian situation: the history of the penitentiary is the history of its reforms, attempts to temporarily plug the flaws in the system that risk temporarily putting it in crisis without, in fact, doing anything to change its essence and resolve its critical issues . Just as "freeing" 3-4 inmates now seems the only possible solution, as costly as it is necessary, to avoid the outbreak of equally dangerous revolts in the future. Let it be clear, this is not to justify or condone the brutality of the protests we have seen erupt in various institutions; however, we must rather ask ourselves the underlying reason for that violence, which erupted in the very place where, as they say, the sentence served should " tend towards the re-education of the convicted ."
As mentioned previously, the confusing news broadcast regarding the virus emergency, the lack of adequate space to manage it, the often precarious health and hygiene conditions, the physical and psychological weakening caused by detention itself, the sudden suspension of family visits—which, for most prison inmates, represent the only distraction from the empty and stagnant flow of time, often lacking other educational and recreational activities (mandatory but not always guaranteed)—confirm an extremely worrying image of prison, where the suspension of fundamental human rights is a daily occurrence. All that extremely rhetorical, populist, and—pardon me—even ridiculous talk we constantly hear is pointless: "Well, if they're in there, it's because they deserve it," "We too are forced to stay at home without having committed any crime, imagine that."
Let us ask ourselves, then, why our country, not many years ago, was twice condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for violating Article 3 of the ECHR, specifically regarding the prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment ; let us ask ourselves why recidivism rates are higher among those who have spent even short periods of detention (which generate deculturation , as Erving Goffman would say ) rather than among those who have managed to access the various alternative measures provided for in our penitentiary system; let us ask ourselves why we continue to justify the existence of an institution that aims to "correct" certain behaviors deemed undesirable for society by paradoxically building places where everything is designed for punishment and revenge; let us ask ourselves why that violence on the rooftops. Let us ask ourselves, then, whether prison truly succeeds in achieving all its objectives.
Prison as a social policy
The reality, then, would seem to be different: the normatively and politically mandated functions of prevention (general and specific), social deterrence, and rehabilitation of offenders are not effectively implemented in the social context, both in Italy and elsewhere, even though they continue to represent essential elements for the institution's survival, despite the evident crises and numerous failures long denounced. The truth is that we cannot do without prison as a tool for managing conflict and modern punitive justice, because its existence is tied to reasons that often have little to do with the desire to protect citizens. It has now become a means of addressing social problems that cannot be managed otherwise, in a social policy that responds to logics and reasons that "do not develop within it, but are determined outside its walls," to quote sociologist Massimo Pavarini.
Just as Italy is now rushing to address the potential risk of system collapse in the wake of yet another emergency, focusing on the here and now without considering the future.
Elena Testi
