Parenthood in prison
(Rules 61, 2-4, 42, 26, 48-52, 56, 61; Chapters 1, 3, 7, 8 and 9)
Italy’s Charter of the Rights of Children of Imprisoned Parents recognises the right of children to maintain a relationship with their imprisoned parents. The Charter was developed as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Italian Ministry of Justice, the National Ombudsman for Childhood and Adolescence and NGO Bambinisenzasbarre ONLUS. It aims to sensitise judicial authorities to the situation of children of detainees and acts as an advocacy tool for protecting the rights of children and parents. The Charter includes different aspects related to the imprisonment of a parent, including pre-trial detention, places of detention, arrangements for children visiting prisons, information for children, training of prison staff and data collection. Article 7 of the Charter contains suggestions around procedures and arrangements for children’s stay in prison in exceptional circumstances.
For more information see: Charter of the Rights of Children of Imprisoned Parents
Rehabilitation and support services to women in prison
(Rule 42, Chapter 7)
An all-women social enterprise, the Cooperative Lazzerelle, produces artisanal coffee inside the largest women’s prison in Pozzuoli, Naples. The cooperative, while based in the prison, is independent from the prison administration. It hires women prisoners to work in the internal roasting plant within the prison and, since established in 2010, has employed 70 women in the roastery. The cooperative works with women prisoners who want to change their lives, adopting both a ‘learning on the job’ and Diversity Management approach, aiming to equip the women with skills and confidence to pursue crime free lives after leaving prison. The recidivism rate for women who have participated in the programme is low; 95% of the women have not re-offended. In 2020, the cooperative opened a bistro in the centre of Naples, completely managed by women prisoners, and in 2022, the prison expanded the roastery to add a chocolate laboratory to promote and design a new product, ‘cioccolatino’. This employs four women prisoners who are trained for four months by a master chocolatier.
For more information see: Lazzarelle Social Cooperative