Education in Prison: The Italian Profile
Education in Prison: The Italian Profile

Summary/Abstract: The following contribution is thought as a reflection on the theme of education in prison in the Italian context, so as to supply sufficient elements of critical knowledge of it and open to a confrontation with other national situations, through the analysis of the other contribution on the same topic which are presented in this volume of HERJ. As it is known, in several modern European countries, education in prison was born with the concept of prison itself. In the process for the theorization of prison, a major debate arose from the thoughts of Cesare Beccaria, an Italian intellectual. He formulated a penal system where education was considered the final end of incarceration and also the only way to prevent crime. Two centuries later his ideas have become a founding principle of the Italian Constitution where it is stated that prison must tend to the re-education of inmates. Efforts have been made along the years, to build up a penitentiary system that reflected the constitutional mandate. Laws and decrees have passed to apply in practical instances these issues and also absorb the European Prison Rules. A study made in 2012 by the author shows some profiles of prisoners from an educational point of view. A reflection is presented that emerges from the analysis of the correlation between some background variables and literacy achievements. It shows how education in prison is fundamental to break the process of deprivation of alphabetical skills but, at the same time, conflicts with some contradictions of the system.

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