TITLE:
The Right to Physical Activity in Italian Prisons: Critical Considerations on Official Data
AUTHORS:
Maurizio Esposito
KEYWORDS:
Prison, Sport, Health, Social Projects, Prevention, Prison Community
JOURNAL NAME:
Sociology Mind,
Vol.10 No.1,
December
5,
2019
ABSTRACT: The article deals with the importance of practicing
physical activity and sport in prisons, not only from a health and physical
point of view but especially from a social and relational point of view. A
prodromal examination of the sense of punishment between a security paradigm
and a treatment paradigm opens up the analysis of the sense of practicing
physical activity in prison. From a brief description of the main codes and
rules in context and of some Memorandum of Understandings at a comparative level, it will then go on to outline the case
studies of some social projects conducted in Italian prisons, as an example of
good practices in the sector. The official data, provided by Italian Ministry
of Justice, referring to the year 2017, show the absolute and relative rates of
the participation of prisoners in sports activities, data which show a relatively
low participation in them, especially regarding female prisoners. The
conclusion attests that sport is not enough: only with the transformation of
total institution in a social institution, prison can become the place where
prevention strategies can offer the possibility to prevent the prisoner, once
released, returns to his community with even greater problems than those who
lived before entering the institute, with all possible consequential damages in
terms of recidivism and social security.