Prisoner

Prison is a male-oriented world. The higher the number of male prisoners, with heinous crimes behind them, the greater the staff of prison officers, structures designed on a male scale. It is no coincidence that the disciplinary infraction most complained about to women is negligence in cleaning the room. It seems that "typical female housekeeping" behaviors are expected from prisoners. From an overview of the relationship between women and prison in Italy carried out by Antigone, it appears that there were 2,392 women present in Italian penitentiary institutions as of 31 January 2023, of which 15 mothers with 17 children in tow.

Female crime is around 18%, but female prisoners drop to 4.2%. 20.2% of total theft reports concern women, 23.2% of computer scams or frauds, 7.5% of robberies, 1.9% of total sexual violence. 15.9% of reports of stalking involve women and 25.8% of exploitation or facilitation of prostitution, 7.7% of violations of the drug law, 6.1% of murders and 16.8% of reports of mafia-type criminal association.

In Italy there are 8 women detained for every 100 thousand female inhabitants. There are 182 men detained for every 100 thousand male inhabitants. There are 17 transgender women detained for every 100,000 transgender inhabitants.
Over the last fifteen years, the number of women entering the country has almost halved. 12.4% of women have serious psychiatric diagnoses, 63.8% use psychotropic drugs. A fact that represents great discomfort. 7.1% of prisoners are illiterate, while 59 are university graduates. Foreign women are 30.5%, a sharp decrease compared to 2013, when they were 40.05%.
The most present nations, in addition to Italy, are Romania, followed by Nigeria and Bulgaria. The average age is rather heterogeneous, but over the years there has been a general aging.

The largest women's prison in Europe is in Rome: Rebibbia locks up 334 inmates (118 foreigners) against a regulatory capacity of 275 people.
«Despite the reform of the penitentiary system which came into force in October 2018 – underlines the Piedmontese regional guarantor for people deprived of liberty, Bruno Mellano – it has introduced art. 14 the explicit specification that the women hosted in special sections must be "in such a number as not to compromise the treatment activities", the numbers remain high. Women, with the small numerical weight they bring to the penitentiary system, are not responsible for prison overcrowding but suffer it more than men".


Chiara Genisio
NP August / September 2023