The way of collaboration

Whenever the minister of justice, Marta Cartabia, goes to a city for some institutional commitment, she tries to visit the prison there. "An experience - as she herself confessed - that is good for me, even if at times it can be very hard because it hurts me to see so many difficulties". So when you were invited to the University of Dialogue al Sermig, in mid-March, you wanted to include a stop at the "Lorusso Cotugno" prison in Turin.

A visit that lasted just over an hour, but which allowed the minister to realize how complex this institute is, a reality in which strong critical issues and excellence such as the university center coexist. Cartabia saw with her eyes the “A” ward, unwatchable for its “inhumanity”, both for the conditions in which the prison police must operate and for those in which the prisoners find themselves. But she also saw the face of a boy who graduated on March 30 after having completed a course of study right inside the prison. And she was able to make a brief stop at the training computer labs of the Cisco Networking Academy, another excellence of the prison.

Accompanied by the new director Cosima Buccoliero, at the end of the visit, the Keeper stressed that: «It is not time, in prison it never is, for unnecessary distinctions or conflicts between prisoners and agents. But if in this institute there is a strength, a synergy, a collaboration, a cooperation and a spirit of unity like the one that has been pointed out to me, let us make it known to everyone and let us commit ourselves so that it becomes the paradigm for the journey that awaits us. , because we really want to follow the path that leads pavilion "A" to become like the Arcobaleno attenuated prison section ".

At the end of her visit, the minister wished to wish the young pupils of the penitentiary police well and listened to the most urgent needs from the operators, thanking everyone for the precious work done. "The more I know the world of prison - he wanted to share - the more I have a sincere admiration for the agents, a wonderful career, I know that it is a tiring job, it was particularly so in these two years of pandemic, but knowing you I see that you have a particular vocation, that of being close to a complex humanity that can surprise you for the rebirths that you can see every day also the fruit of your work ”.


Chiara Genisio
NP April 2022