Mens sana in corpore sano

FROM NOURISHMENT FOR THE MIND TO THE CARE OF PHYSICAL WELL-BEING
The one built near the sports field of the Como prison is not a “life trail” like the others. The exercise equipment was designed and built by the inmates and its construction involved the entire city community. The new space was born with the project "Como: a united city inside and outside the prison", of the Service Center for Volunteering (csv) of Insubria, in collaboration with the Cesvi Foundation and supported by Intesa Sanpaolo, through the "Programma Formula ”, a crowdfunding initiative to which private citizens, businesses and the banking group contributed. The new path offers prisoners the opportunity to carry out physical activity outdoors and to experience socialization opportunities. Also in Como, initiatives have been activated to encourage the relationship between prison and citizens to make the prison a more integrated place with society as a whole. Among the various activities, there is also training for volunteers and professional courses to promote the employment inclusion of prisoners in the twelve months following their release.

THE LEGAL CULTURE ENTERS PRISON
Valerio Onida's library has found a "home" in one of the places where the illustrious constitutional lawyer, who died a year ago, worked hard to promote the idea of a "prison of legality": in Bollate, the second prison from Milan. It is in this prison that the jurist, lawyer, professor emeritus of constitutional law at the University of Milan, president of the Constitutional Court from 2004 to 2005, has provided free advice to prisoners for many years. And it was thanks to his support that the Juridical Desk was born in 2002. Onida's library with the books of his entire life, some worn and repaired with scotch, about two thousand volumes, it was donated to a representation of prisoners by his son Marco at the beginning of April during a commemoration ceremony in the library of the V department. In addition to the family members of the constitutional lawyer, there were representatives of the judiciary, prison administration and social volunteering.
The former Minister of Justice, Marta Cartabia (a pupil of Onida), commented to Dubbio: «The legal desk and the personal library donated to the Bollate prison are the tangible sign of the great legacy that Valerio Onida leaves to Milan and to the whole country. A legacy made up of great ideal convictions and humble and hidden concrete gestures that have allowed those ideals to become history".


Chiara Genisio
NP May 2023