I have been asked to present a biblical perspective.
Yes, prisons and prisoners are mentioned in the Bible, but it is not about our prisons and prisoners.
In its depiction of the Last Judgement (Mt 25), the Gospel of Matthew points to a series of actions towards the weak and marginalised as criteria, which has a long tradition in Jewish circles, the actions that realise gemilut hasadim, the works of mercy. Beginning with Isaiah 58 (hungry), other texts also mention thirsty, orphans, poor, innocent, foreigners, homeless, naked, mourners, sick.
The mention of prison is not so frequent. Does Matthew mention it because he has in mind the possibility of Christian itinerant missionaries ending up in Roman prisons? In any case, Roman prisons did not provide food for prisoners, so the fate of prisoners was in the hands of those on the outside who cared for them. Only wealthy prisoners could have their food provided.
But, precisely Roman prisons are not ours.
“In ancient Israel, mere imprisonment was not recognized as a formal punishment … The modern idea of a prison as a penitentiary, where criminals are to be reformed into decent citizens, was foreign to the Ancient Near Eastern conceptions. For various other reasons, however, prisons played an important role in the penal system of the ancients.” (van der Toorn, 468).
Imprisonment as the main method of punishment for illegal actions, as practiced in all our states, is actually a modern acquisition, which undoubtedly has its positive aspects as it excludes the death penalty, private revenge, corporal punishment and torture.
“The key role played by prisons in the authorities’ arsenal of punishment and disciplinary measures since their rise between the end of the 16th century and the first half of the 19th century goes hand in hand with the rise of the modern state, whose penal system produced the quantitative dominance of prison terms and fines. This is true particularly for constitutional democracies.” (v. Trotha, 395).
I would like to dwell, in this quote, particularly on the mention of our 'constitutional democracies'. Citizens are therefore participants in the process that leads to legislation, and can question the reality in this case of prisons - measuring it against the criteria set out in the constitutions. Citizens are no longer subjects who suffer what is decided without them. Therefore, as citizens who are also members of religious communities, we can and must take an interest in the prison system, even beyond the exercise of soul care and assistance, which must be ensured for all religious denominations.
Our Italian Constitution states:
Art. 27 Criminal responsibility is personal. The defendant is not considered guilty until the final judgement is passed. Punishment cannot consist in inhuman treatment and must aim at the rehabilitation of the convicted person. The death penalty is not permitted.
These are the directives to which practice must be oriented. Antigone, "a political-cultural association whose members are mainly magistrates, prison workers, scholars, parliamentarians, teachers and citizens who are interested in criminal justice in various capacities", also published in 2023 an extensive and well-documented report, also based on visits to 97 of the 189 Italian penal institutions.
Let me mention a few findings.
Data: 19th Antigone report
The official capacity is 51,249 places, but on 30 April there were 56,674 inmates, of whom 43.4 per cent were women, foreigners 31.3 per cent".
In 35 per cent of the institutions visited, there were cells in which 3 square metres of floor space per prisoner were not guaranteed. Therefore, 4,000 complaints for inhuman and degrading detention conditions are received each year. In 12.4% of the cells the heating was not working; in 45.4% there were cells without hot water and in 56.7% cells without a shower. (25)
In 2022, there were 85 suicides, one every four days. Never before had such a high number been seen, there was talk of a real suicide emergency. Between January and May 2023, there were 22 confirmed suicides. The average number of suicides in prison is 17/18 times higher than among free people.
Of the 85 persons who took their own lives, 80 were men and 5 women (63). However, women make up only 4% of the prison population.
The average number of inmates working is 29.2 per cent. Prisoners involved in vocational training projects are 6.8 per cent. (75)
The average expenditure per prisoner is € 160.93 in 2023.
The percentage of recidivism, i.e. people who return to commit a crime after serving a sentence in prison is around 70 % in Italy, but drops to 2 % for those who had the opportunity to learn a job in prison.
Some reflections and questions from these data.
- What has become of the principle of re-education and re-socialisation in the modern prison system?
- What school is the prison in practice?
- There is clearly a failure here, all the more evident when one considers the costs: EUR 160 per day, to fail?
- Today we have begun to speak of "restorative justice" ... I believe that meetings such as ours, which bring together different religious communities, scholars, government men, all citizens of constitutional democracies, can be valuable occasions to look at reality together, not to conceal problems, not to evade questions, and to seek correctives and solutions. Having in mind the Jewish expression of tiqqun 'olam, trying to do one's part to fix, to repair something in the world.
Karel van der Toorn, Prison, ABD V, 468-469.
Jophannes Schnoks, Todesstrafe, WiBiLex
Alexander Böhm, Strafvollzug, TRE 32, 225-233.
Trutz von Trotha, Prison System I. Social Sciences, RPP 10, 395-396 = Gefängniswesen I. Sozialwissenschaftlich, RGG4 3, 526-528.
Ellen Stubbe, Prison System II Practical Theology, 396-397 = Gefängniswesen II. Praktisch-tehologisch, RGG4 3, 528-530
Nora Molnar-Hidvegi, Kerker, WiBiLex
Antigone, XIX rapporto sulle condizioni di detenzione
https://www.antigone.it/upload/Antigone_XIX_rapporto.pdf
Luigi Manconi et al., Abolire il carcere. Una ragionevole proposta per la sicurezza dei cittadini, Chiarelettere, Milano 2022.