EDUCATION IN THE ITALIAN PRISON OF MARSALA

Italian Ministery of JusticeMarsala Prison

Dr Lilli CastiglioneOffice manager education

THE PRISON

  The prison is small. We have a maximum of 50 prisoners at one time. The prisoners are adult men of all ages. Most of the prisoners are from outside the E.U., principally from Tunisia, and Marocco and most are, or have been drug addicts.

The prison holds prisoners who have been given sentences of up to five years and those awaiting trial.

 

People working within our prison include educators, psycologists, social workers, voluntary workers, priests, the prison guards who constantly observe the prisoners, in order to pass on information about them to the surveillance court.

WORKERS

THE SURVEILLANCE MAGISTRACY

In Italy, the Surveillance Magistracy (Magistratura di Sorveglianza) is a distinct branch of the Italian judiciary, with a specialized competence over the supervision of detainees and prisons. It has the task of supervising the enforcement of sentences, of applying alternative measures to imprisonment, of carrying out alternative sanctions and of applying and enforcing security measures.

  The information given to the surveillance

magistracy allows the latter to decide if a prisoner can be granted permission to leave the prison for work or education purposes. 

THE ITALIAN RE-EDUCATION TREATMENT LAW (N. 354 OF 26 JULY 1975) PROVIDES FOR THE FOLLOWING PROVISIONS:

Academic educationWorkReligionSports , cultural and recreational activitiesContact with the outside worldMaintenance of family relationships

IN MY PRISON

ADDRESSING ILLITERACY

As most of the prisoners are from outside the E.U. , there is a high level of illiteracy amongst the prison population. To address this problem we offer elementary literacy courses within the prison. The prisoners have lessons 3 hours a day to learn to read and write in Italian. At the end of the course, the prisoner can choose to take the elementary school exam or even the middle school Italian state exam.

POETRY READINGS We organize poetry readings for our

prisoners. We invite local poets to come to the prison to read their poems to the prisoners and then we have a group discussion about the themes of the poems which have been read.

WORK WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE PRISON

Within the prison, detainees can choose from the following jobs:

1. Cook2. Cleaner3. Maintenance man

Some detainees are permitted to do manual work outside the prison, for example on farms.

A SPORTS AND RECREATIONWe have a gym and table football

facilities the detainees love playing table football

ADDRESSING DRUG PROBLEMS

In addition ,due to the large number of drug addicts, we offer group sessions with psychologists to help the prisoners with their drug problems.

PROGETTO LEGALITA’

Another project within the prison is the "progetto legalità" or legality project. This involves high school students visiting the prison and meeting prisoners in a group situation to discuss and debate the theme of legality.

FUND RAISING AND PRESENTS FOR PRISONERS’CHILDREN

  Last christmas volunteers came to teach

our prisoners to make craft objects such as jewellery, Christmas decorations etc which were then sold in a market and given as presents to the prisoners children.

   I am going to show you a video of the

prisoners doing this activity: 

Fundraising and presents for prisoners' children

Last Christmas volunteers came to teach our prisoners to make craft objects such as jewellery, Christmas decorations etc which were then sold in a market and given as presents to the prisoners children.

THANK YOU