‘Like an earthquake in a submarine’: the social and institutional impact of a theatre laboratory programme at the ‘C. Beccaria’ youth detention centre in Milan

ABSTRACT

This article presents two key findings from a case study on the impact of a theatre laboratory programme implemented at ‘C. Beccaria’ youth detention centre in Milan. First, the opening of a permanent theatre inside the prison, with the involvement of the broader community, has helped fulfil detained minors’ rights to culture and rehabilitation, as well as remodel the relationship between prison and society. Second, the institution’s reaction to the theatre laboratory has been ambivalent. The article critically examines this tension, exploring the conditions required to rethink and transform the institutional, rehabilitative, and cultural framework of the youth detention centre.

KEYWORDS:

• Prison theatre
• young offenders
• social inclusion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Puntozero is the association in charge of the theatre laboratory offered to young detainees at the ‘C. Beccaria’ juvenile prison in Milan. It organises theatrical performances inside the detention centre. In addition to running the prison theatre programme, it delivers drama courses to children, adolescents, and adults in the community at large.

2 In the juvenile penal justice system, young people who are non-EU citizens or from the Roma community are impacted more harshly by court sentences than are young ethnic Italians. For similar crimes, young immigrants are more likely to be found guilty, and are more likely to be taken into pre-emptive custody and stay longer in prison, while being less likely to benefit from alternative measures, such as being assigned to a residential centre or a foster home (see Lisi et al. 2012).

 

3 Inside the theatre, the company has set up a pantry and kitchen, so that the participants can cook and eat together.

 

4 All the respondents emphasised the director’s key role in managing the relationship between the detention centre and Puntozero. In discussing this, they mentioned conditions that had been found to facilitate mediation in the past and conditions that in contrast had given rise to division and conflict. The key factors mentioned include the director’s educational perspective, but also whether or not he or she is appointed to that role for a sufficient length of time.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pierangelo Barone

Pierangelo Barone is Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy and lecturer in Pedagogy of Adolescence and Pedagogy of Deviance and Marginalisation at the University of Milano-Bicocca. His research centres on the transformation of social and educational contexts, especially the phenomena of disadvantage and deviance in large Western cities.

Veronica Berni

Veronica Berni is currently completing the Education in Contemporary Society PhD programme at the ‘Riccardo Massa’ Department of Human Sciences and Education, University of Milano-Bicocca. Her doctoral research concerns the relationship between theatre, education, and inclusion, in the specific setting of Milan’s ‘C. Beccaria’ Youth Detention Centre.

Cristina Palmieri

Cristina Palmieri is Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy and lecturer in the Rationale for Pedagogical Counselling and Pedagogy of Inclusion at the University of Milano-Bicocca. Her research deals with care in educational settings, educational disadvantage, and praxis and method in educational work.

Silvana Vaccaro

Silvana Vaccaro holds a bachelor’s degree in Education Sciences. She is Coordinator of Vocational Education and Training for ENAIP Lombardia at ‘C. Beccaria’ Youth Detention Centre, Milan. Her research interests are related to the rehabilitation and social inclusion of adolescent offenders.