Sports in the cell

Mens sana in corpore sano is especially valid within the walls of a prison. Sport, like work, is a fundamental element in achieving the constitutional objective of re-education. However, many of the penitentiary institutions are not suitable for the practice of sporting activities. Finding a solution is one of the objectives set by the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio, who in collaboration with the Minister for Sport, Andrea Abodi, sponsors the part of the "Social Plan for Sport" which concerns the prison system. The project, born from a series of memoranda of understanding with the Penitentiary Administration Department, was discussed in mid-May at the Roman penitentiary of Rebibbia. «It is very difficult to create new prison facilities in Italy, our idea would be to recover those suitable both for enhancing work and sporting activity», anticipated Minister Nordio.
The idea is to exploit existing buildings, «there are dozens and dozens of abandoned barracks, which have an architecture compatible, in theory, with prisons». 116 associations and sports clubs from 19 Regions joined the project and proposed carrying out activities in 60 penitentiary institutions for adults, 13 for minors and 25 reception communities for minors, with the expected involvement of around 10 thousand inmates.
Last year, according to data provided by the department, there were 380 structured sports initiatives organized in institutions, which involved 11,014 inmates, operators from 123 associations and 35 volunteers not belonging to institutions.

THROUGH THE MIRROR
The prison discovered and told at the Turin Book Fair. The 2023 edition offered many books, meetings and experiences on the world of prisons. The initiative of the newspaper Il Dubbio was very interesting and powerful, with its stand offering visitors the experience of entering a closed space like a cell, with the smells and noises that accompany private people on a daily basis of freedom.
Writers, teachers, artists, educators talked about their approach to prison, their first encounter with prisoners. Everyone has their own story, but everyone agreed in reiterating that we shouldn't speak in slogans and that we need to enter a prison to understand what it means to live there. Then the importance of education, Maria Teresa Picchetto, a teacher for 26 years at the university center of the Lorusso Cotugno prison, shared what one of her students told her one day: «here in prison the hours never pass, but his lessons are fly!".


Chiara Genisio
NP June / July 2023