The Guarantor for prisoners: «Sardinian prisons are too crowded, we need re-education. No to the abuse of 41 bis"

Irene Testa is the first guarantor for prisoners appointed in Sardinia. Her task is to monitor the rights of those "who are subjected to measures restrictive of personal freedom", states the decree with which the Regional Council assigned her the task. It was January 2023. Before the Testa, no one on the island had ever been able to fill this role because politics, guiltily, did not comply with the 2011 founding law for twelve years.

With the Guarantor, an in-depth analysis in three episodes begins today on these pages which will continue with interviews with Maria Grazia Caligaris and Gianfranco Pala: the former is a founding member of the “Socialismo Diritti Riforme” association which deals with prisoners; the other is the historic director of many Sardinian penitentiaries, retired in 2018.

Testa, 50 years old, originally from Tonara, has a very long experience in the field of rights and protections of those forced to live in prison.

Garante Testa, appoints his with record, after a twelve-year gap.

«It's true, it took a long time before this appointment, decided by the Regional Council, was made in Sardinia. But the step, even if late, was very important."

In these nine months of institutional activity, what have you seen?

«I have seen and visited the last ones. I have found that there is little interest in them. I'm talking about the last ones because they are people locked inside boxes where the rule of law basically dies. No one doubts that those who are deprived of their freedom have made a mistake. But this should not allow us to leave these citizens in a state of abandonment."

Is there a culprit?

«The institutions. Unfortunately, they rarely legislate on prison matters. And the few rules that exist and could help prisoners are largely unapplied. It is easier to pretend not to see and let everything depend on the good will of those who work in penitentiaries. But if a director does not have enough staff available, it is clear that those serving their sentences cannot be subjected to treatment. The agents are equally understaffed: they have exhausting shifts and also have to manage situations that would be the responsibility of psychiatrists. Which, equally, are insufficient. In such a context it is difficult to protect rights."

In Sardinia there are ten penitentiaries. Have you visited them all?

«All I'm missing is the one in Tempio Pausania. But the visit is already scheduled."

Reading the report of the Antigone association, our island seems to have no overcrowding: 2,070 prisoners compared to 2,617 places. Instead, the data is flawed by the numbers of penal colonies which represent the perfect model of penitentiary, with real recovery paths, but are underused. What is the real Sardinian situation?

"We too have crowded and emergency penitentiaries: it happens in Uta and Bancali."

According to the latest data from the "Socialism, Rights, Reforms" association, in Cagliari, compared to 561 places, there are 589 prisoners, of which 111 foreigners and 24 women. In Sassari, the capacity is 454, but the inmates are 456, of which 116 foreigners and 17 women. He confirms?

"I confirm and add that more than half of the prisoners should not be there."

Why?

«People in psychiatric distress are not kept in prison, but should be transferred to the Rems, the ad hoc residences, created for the implementation of security measures on those with significant problems. But in Sardinia there is only one, in Capoterra, and it has just sixteen beds. So we choose to leave these people in so-called "smooth" cells, that is, without even a mattress, to prevent them from burning it, but only with an iron bed. The same goes for drug addicts: their place is recovery communities. Also because these are people who need pharmacological support, as well as emotional support. Anyone who doesn't support the system commits suicide. Recently, when I wrote to the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, to denounce the situation in Sardinian prisons, I found myself disarmed: I had difficulty explaining what I saw, especially in the so-called transit areas. There are forgotten people who spend their days staring at the wall. The State evidently considers them a nuisance to society."

In Sardinia there seems to be a "directors emergency": from the "Continent" no one wants to come here.

«Apparently yes. And to complicate the situation was the dramatic road accident in which Patrizia Incollu, head of the penitentiaries of Nuoro, Lanusei and Mamone, was involved, hospitalized for days in serious conditions. The chief coordinator of the Penitentiary Police lost his life in the clash. Now two of them, Marco Porcu and Elisa Milanesi, have the ten Sardinian regencies in their hands."

In a prison worthy of a civilized country, what should a prisoner's typical day be like?

«Reeducation comes from work. And from the studio. Instead, there are very few lucky prisoners, those who have a job and are able to do activities."

For what reason?

«Meanwhile there are safety and space reasons: the inmates cannot be moved all together in the classrooms. But in most cases their motivation is not taken into account."

Let's face it: there is a lack of recovery paths.

«Unfortunately, yes, re-education is increasingly an illusion. The constant is a cell divided into three, four and five. They spend their time there, without doing any activity. The importance of work in prison is not an issue that I raise: it is established by article 27 of the Constitution. Furthermore, the few jobs that are done in prison are not professionalised. The jobs are the toilet cleaner, the scribe, the canteen worker or the food delivery person in the cells. In any case we are always talking about a small number of prisoners. Instead, we need to build interactions between penitentiaries and companies. Society can have a rehabilitated prisoner back only if he works and learns a trade: then he will be able to no longer do harm. Today, in most cases, people leave penitentiaries worse than they entered. And almost always with debts incurred to pay a lawyer."

Examples of companies that work with prisoners?

«In Uta there are prisoners who repair telephones and decoders on behalf of external companies. But the most important model we have in Sardinia, a national excellence, is given by the agricultural penal colonies of Is Arenas, Isili and Mamone. Yet they risk closure."

How are they organised?

«Every inmate has a job: there are those who are shepherds, those who take care of the vegetable gardens, those who dedicate themselves to viticulture, those who take care of other animals. Everyone is employed in some activity and thus can pay the State for their food and accommodation."

Paying for food and accommodation is a topic that is talked about very little.

«Ignored by most. In reality it is a legal obligation, which almost all prisoners cannot comply with, given that they are do-nothing and have nothing. In penal colonies, however, prisoners are also able to honor their debt to the state. Not only that: they live in penitentiaries from which they have no interest in escaping. Disciplinary relations are also non-existent because the climate with the agents is relaxed. Those detained in penal colonies have a satisfactory daily life, they are not angry with the system."

Who chooses the destination of a traditional prison or a penal colony?

«An ad hoc commission takes care of it. But the criteria are so restrictive that very few prisoners are included."

As a guarantor, what appeal do you make on the topic?

«I invite you to review, rethink and readjust the access rules. Mamone, for example, is a heritage that cannot be lost. Resources are needed. There are too many abandoned buildings. When I went to visit in recent months, I saw the barrels of wine, very precious, without care. There are national rules that would help companies invest in projects with penal colonies. I'm thinking of the Smuraglia law: it reduces the insurance rate. Anyone who hires a prisoner pays no taxes and would also have a contribution of 500 euros per month. When I call for the need to review the criteria for access to penal colonies, I also think of drug addicts, those spaces lend themselves to being converted into communities. Furthermore, it is absurd that female prisoners are not guaranteed access. It's time to review a law dating back to 1930."

Is 41 bis, hard prison, of any use?

«We need balance. I believe it should be reconsidered and also more diversified. Because more often than not, in the wake of social alarm, we have witnessed abuse in the application of this measure."

Article 27 of the Penal Code provides for the possibility of daytime solitary confinement for up to three years for those with multiple life sentences. But the Mandela rules of the United Nations set the limit at fifteen days. Which side are you on?

«There are also rulings from the Constitutional Court that condemn the excess of prison constraints. These are issues on which many politicians base their security proclamations. I say that some rules are purely afflictive and not rehabilitative."

When there are murders that strike public opinion, the most popular comment on social media is "throw away the key". What effect does it have on her?

«I understand that the first reaction is anger. But a rule of law cannot be based solely on this. I had a conversation with a person who committed a very serious crime. He has psychiatric problems, and only after therapy is he realizing what he has done. I felt an excruciating pain like never before. He will carry torment for his life."

Who can you turn to?

«Any prisoner. I receive letters daily. Many mothers of people deprived of their liberty also write to me. But on the other hand there is a society that proves to be poorly informed and tends to see penitentiaries as places where suffering must prevail. A bit like the law of retaliation. Instead, the light must be the law, not the crime. On this front, there is one thing I insist on: the prisoners will get out sooner or later. It would benefit the whole society to have better people at the end of this journey, no longer angry and angry."

Life imprisonment: for or against?

«Contrary. The sentence, without a doubt, must be served. But I believe in recovery. Prison bends everyone. After twenty-thirty years of detention, one has necessarily changed. Everyone has the right to hope."

Death penalty: in Italy, from time to time, it is still talked about. Are you surprised?

"More than anything, I get depressed because we do so much to be a democratic country and boast of being so."

Tempio prison only houses maximum security prisoners. Agree?

«These are choices that fall to the Department of Penitentiary Administration. But in general I believe that the number of prisoners who are in our penitentiaries under high surveillance, therefore released from 41 bis, or still subjected to hard prison, is disproportionate and unacceptable. There are more than a thousand of them, almost all of them non-Sardinian, and they represent more than half of the total prisoners."

The news gives an account of suicides in prison but it is almost never reported that many officers also take their own lives.

"It is true. And I must say that I often find indifference towards the Penitentiary Police. Everything falls on them. They must also take care of helping inmates who are ill. I spent many hours in the so-called transit sections, where the most difficult people are kept. The situation is very serious: shouting, throwing of food and plates. Even sandwiches filled with excrement."

In his book “The fact does not exist” he talks about bad justice. How do you fight?

«With healthy justice, which fortunately continues to exist. The Cagliari Prosecutor's Office has asked for a review of the trial of Beniamino Zuncheddu, who has been in prison for thirty-three years but can now be said to be innocent."

A lost life, though.

«Of course, no one will be able to give him back for too much time spent in prison. The weight of judicial errors is written in those billions that the Ministry of Economy disburses every year to compensate the innocent. Every day in Italy three people end up unjustly in a cell."

Those who are richer do less prison time: is this a theory with a foundation?

«It's not true at all. But those who have less economic capacity find it more difficult to defend themselves."

White collar workers: are they treated differently in prison?

«I would say that in prison no one wears a shirt. When I meet the prisoners, because I receive the request for an interview, I don't even know who I'm in front of. I don't ask why they are there. The protection of rights does not allow for exceptions or differences."