Working and Forgiveness Behind Bars: Giotto in the Due Palazzi Prison of Padua

This paper focuses on programs implemented by the social cooperative Giotto within Padua’s maximum-security prison. Since the 1990s the cooperative has provided training and job opportunities to hundreds of inmates within the Due Palazzi prison facility. The first part of the paper presents the history of the cooperative, as well as the work activities that it currently manages within the prison facility—among others, an award-winning bakery and the production of sophisticated bicycle prototypes. In the second section we review the best practices developed by the cooperative in the field of the rehabilitation of offenders. This part analyzes the main features and the assumptions behind the rehabilitative model applied by Giotto’s staff. Finally, in the third section, based on semi-structured interviews with a sample of inmates currently employed by Giotto, we put forward a number of hypotheses concerning the effects of Giotto’s programs. Interviewees attribute to their involvement with Giotto a large number of beneficial effects, from improvements in mental and physical health to personal development. We conclude with an invitation for further data collection and both quantitative and qualitative testing, in order to carefully measure the many social benefits that result from Giotto’s innovative activities within the Due Palazzi facility.