“A prison is a place of transit” says magistrate Sebastiano Ardita

prison

The images of the violence in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison in the province of Caserta exploded in the consciousness of an entire nation. Such terrible images still remain in the national media as a warning because watching unarmed prisoners exposed to gratuitous violence by a handful of prison officers raises many serious questions. Yet, the world of prisons is a world far from public debate. It is a territory we want to be far away from and isolated from our consciences. It is not our problem, yet when it explodes, it involves everyone. We face this world, unknown to most, talking with the magistrate Sebastiano Ardita, currently advisor at the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM). Ardita has worked in the Anti-Mafia District Direction of Catania, where he has dealt with investigations for crimes against the public administration and Mafia infiltration in public procurement and supplies. In 2002 he was Director of the Prisoners Office at the Department of Penitentiary Administration (DAP) and responsible for implementing the 41bis regime. He is the author of various texts, including Cosa Nostra SpA, in which he analyses the economic pact between white-collar workers and organised crime.   

When the lockdown was declared in March 2020, the prison revolt erupts. A year and a half later, we see the images of the April 2020 slaughter in the Santa Maria Capua Vetere prison. It seems evident that the world of prisons becomes news, only to be forgotten immediately afterwards. Why is there this attitude?

Because it is a sector for which a sort of removal operates on the part of citizens. Many consider it a place destined to accommodate people to be kept away from society, which determines a lack of interest in its real conditions. It is considered almost useless by some to spend resources and worry about it since they do not see what the benefit is for the community. Instead, it is exactly the opposite. A prison is a place of transit – often brief – for many people, and the failure of that experience often results in criminal recidivism. Therefore, society pays a very high price for its bad functioning. Only serious events such as riots and beatings rekindle interest, but within a framework of superficial and often disarming attitudes.

From your point of view, why is the management of approximately 54,000 inmates in a nation of 65 million inhabitants so problematic? The number is undoubtedly challenging compared to the population. However, it does not seem to be impossible to manage.

The number of detainees present are low both in relation to the extent of criminal phenomena present on the territory and if compared with the reality of other European nations. The question concerns the resources employed – there is a lack of educators and directors, hence those who have to build the paths of reintegration – and also the spaces, which are absolutely inadequate and designed for a maximum-security prison, completely closed to any innovation.

There has been a long and articulate discussion on 41bis recently, even with the intervention of the Constitutional Court. Why are just over a thousand 41bis prisoners, the most dangerous criminals for the democratic State, so central to the public debate, as if the State were subjecting them to inhuman treatment? How misleading is this perspective, and whom does it benefit?

The prison is a set of communicating vessels. If pressure is exerted somewhere, it is transmitted to the rest of the containers. Having said that, it is evident and normal that maximum-security regimes are under the lens of justice bodies and human rights organisations. In Italy, the instruments of prevention have been founded on a fair balance with respect to the serious dangers associated with the action of mafia associations. Moreover, often the criticism of prison is gratuitously extended to situations in respect of which the measures serve to save the lives of innocent people. But it is evident that also the mafia organisations, for completely different purposes than the humanitarian ones, aim at de-structuring the rules of the preventive prison, in order to allow their leaders to continue to direct criminal affairs from prison.

In Italy, it seems that almost no one wants to believe in re-education within penitentiary institutions. On the other hand, many supervisory magistrates have proven the possibility of paths that lead people to a second chance after paying their debt. Why is there this willingness to condemn without appeal in common feeling?

Because there is not enough appreciation of the fact that, after a re-educational path, normally the tendency to delinquency is also extinguished. In reality, what needs to be avoided is that imprisonment may make the offender less attractive or encourage him to continue his criminal activity. Also, because in our Country detention is a temporary condition.

You have often spoken about the complexity of the world of prisons, of the DAP (Department of Penitentiary Administration), of how to protect the work of agents and prisoners’ rights. What is needed in the immediate future so that “suspensions of Democracy and the Constitution” do not happen again?

There is a need for that rebalancing between security and freedom that characterises the entire penal experience and finds its most critical point in the prison. In the immediate term, prison’s workers must regain the trust of citizens and all institutions. That those who have made mistakes pay, but without questioning the authority and authoritativeness of the Institutions. Moreover, let it be clear to all that the return to security in the penitentiary institutions must pass through the respect of all the rules laid down in our Constitution. Nevertheless, nothing can be achieved if you do not know the prison and do not intervene on those rigidities or weaknesses that make it difficult to live and without improving the living conditions in prisons, because – as has been well said – the dignity of those who work there is connected to that of those who are detained there.

Read the original article

Leggi anche

 

Ultime notizie
acque
Ambiente

Lo stato delle acque in Italia, infrastrutture fatiscenti e antiquate disperdono il 40% della risorsa

Lo stato delle acque in Italia sconta la presenza di infrastrutture idriche antiquate e inadeguate, che disperdono il 40% di una risorsa che sarà sempre più preziosa e meno reperibile in futuro. La situazione peggiore è nel Mezzogiorno, le regioni del Centro le più virtuose.
di Ludovico Semerari
acque
moda
Economia

Sistema moda italiano leader in Europa ma bisogna tutelare la filiera del Made in Italy

Il sistema moda italiano è leader in Europa con 56.422 mila imprese operanti nel settore fashion, il 25% del totale. Se il presente del settore moda suscita interesse negli investitori, per il futuro è necessario consolidare il sistema rafforzando l’unicità che contraddistingue il Made in Italy.
di Claudia Bugno*
moda
sicurezza pmi
Intervista

Cybersicurezza: le PMI devono cambiare approccio e investire nelle competenze

Sicurezza e PMI, secondo Mario Di Luzio, Chief Marketing Officer di Tinexta Cyber, bisogna colmare il gap nell’ambito della cyber security. La chiave sta nel semplificare e rendere accessibili le procedure e le tecnologie per mettere in sicurezza le imprese, sia pubbliche che private, di piccole o grandi dimensioni.
di Massimiliano Cannata
sicurezza pmi
Futuro

Intelligenza Artificiale e Naturale, la sfida alla scuola e all’Università

L’Intelligenza Artificiale (AI) è una delle invenzioni più impattanti di sempre sull’Uomo, rispetto alla quale scuola e università devono adeguarsi per sfruttarne al meglio le potenzialità. Bisogna generare menti adatte al futuro attraverso un sistema scolastico capace di dotare la mente di strumenti concettuali nuovi e adeguati.
di Alberto Mattiacci*
Società

Social network e smartphone: una rivoluzione con effetti collaterali

Secondo i dati emersi dall’indagine Eurispes, i Social network più utilizzati sono WhatsApp (73,9%), Facebook (67,5%), Telegram (34,4%) e Twitter (25,9%). Preoccupa l’uso generalizzato dello smartphone a letto, mentre si guida o si cammina per strada, diffuso a tutte le età ma soprattutto tra i giovani.
di redazione
Mezzogiorno e Germania Est
Mezzogiorno

Mezzogiorno e Germania Est: un confronto sempre attuale

“Mezzogiorno e Germania Est: un confronto” è il lavoro pubblicato dall’Eurispes per Rubbettino Editore su un parallelismo storico-economico da sempre evocato, quello tra la ex DDR e il Meridione d’Italia. Il lavoro evidenzia che gli investimenti nelle infrastrutture sono indispensabili ma non sufficienti per lo sviluppo delle zone più arretrate.
di redazione
Mezzogiorno e Germania Est
festival culturali
Cultura

Festival culturali, più innovazione per coinvolgere i giovanissimi

I festival culturali in Italia sono cresciuti e si sono strutturati negli anni, ora serve una strategia per coinvolgere il pubblico più giovane. Innovazione e territorio possono essere la chiave per far crescere e radicare gli eventi culturali, che arricchiscono il patrimonio materiale e immateriale della collettività.
di Roberta Rega
festival culturali
violenza sessuale
Criminalità e contrasto

Violenza sessuale, un reato in crescita negli ultimi 10 anni

La violenza sessuale in tutte le sue forme è un reato che negli ultimi 10 anni è cresciuto del 40% secondo il Servizio Analisi Criminale. Il reato coinvolge sempre più vittime e autori minorenni, sopratutto nella violenza di gruppo. Ma il dato in crescita potrebbe essere anche frutto di una maggiore propensione a denunciare tali reati.
di redazione
violenza sessuale
formazione dei docenti
Formazione

Insegnanti e formazione, alla ricerca di nuove competenze: tra precariato e nuove prospettive

La formazione dei docenti mira a fornire una migliore offerta formativa per gli studenti, non solo in ambito strettamente didattico ma anche in termini di interculturalità, inclusione, educazione digitale. Ma sugli obiettivi prefissati dal Piano per la formazione dei docenti pesa il precariato strutturale della Scuola italiana.
di marialuisa pinna
formazione dei docenti
automotive
Innovazione

Settore automotive, una spinta verso innovazione e transizione verde

Il futuro della filiera automobilistica italiana va ripensato alla luce delle necessità dettate dalle transizioni verde e digitale. Nel settore automotive saranno, dunque, inscindibili i temi dell’innovazione e della sostenibilità ambientale e sociale per garantire competitività alle imprese nazionali.
di Claudia Bugno*
automotive