Beyond Exclusion: Notes from a Qualitative Research on University Prison Poles in Italy

The Italian penal system is predicated on the assumption that incarceration should serve as a period of transition for the individual, with the overarching objective of facilitating social reintegration. However, this objective frequently manifests as a discourse of re-education as an end in itself, which in turn engenders processes of disculturation, control logics and imprisonment (Clemmer, 1940; Goffman, 1978; Vianello, 2019). This results in a paradoxical situation in which the entire institution is tasked with rehabilitating individuals by excluding them from society (Sbraccia, 2020), thereby perpetuating de facto social inequalities.

Furthermore, the implementation of disciplinary measures and systems of rewards and punishments serves to reinforce a sense of dependency and control among prisoners (Foucault 1976; Melossi and Pavarini 1977; Gallo and Ruggero 1989; Rostaing, 2014).

Nonetheless, the presence of academic institutions within the prison environment presents a valuable opportunity to traverse the symbolic and non-symbolic thresholds of the penitentiary, thereby establishing a connection between the internal and external contexts (Pastore and Borghini, 2021; Pastore, 2018). From this perspective, the experience of the University Prison Poles offers a unique insight into the relational dynamics between the internal and external contexts and their impact on inclusion processes (Borghini, 2020).

In light of the above preliminary considerations, this paper presents the initial findings of a qualitative empirical study carried out in 2023 on the University Prison Poles in Tuscany. The study was conducted as part of an in-depth ethnographic investigation of the prison camp, and it included informal interviews with educational staff and incarcerated students. The students who participated in the study were at various stages of their academic careers, including those who were about to start their university studies and those who already had a university degree.