Today, the CNEL Assembly approved a document of Observations and Proposals on study, training and work in and outside prison and a Bill on “Provisions for the social and labour inclusion and the reduction of recidivism of persons subjected to restrictive or limiting measures of personal liberty issued by the judicial authorities.

This is the first Bill of the current Term.

This is a follow-up to the preliminary work carried out by the CNEL since the interinstitutional agreement with the Ministry of Justice on 17 June 2023, culminating in the “Zero Recidivism” working day on 16 April, which saw the participation of over 400 people between plenary and thematic sessions, with the production of six summary documents by the six working groups on study, training, labour, enterprise, governance and regulatory framework.

The bill is intended to provide public decision-makers with legal instruments capable of improving the current governance system, facilitating, at the same time, the development of a national public policy on the issue of prison labour capable, on the one hand, of supporting the development of the best existing projects and, on the other, of activating projects in the less well-equipped territories in line with the specific contexts and the real needs of the users of penal institutions.

By means of an overall review of the current legal and regulatory framework of the prison system, it is therefore intended to contribute to the structuring of an integrated inter-institutional network aimed at: managing the problem of labour inclusion in its entirety both in prison and in the post-release phase; attracting external resources on a permanent basis both in economic terms and in terms of skills; developing and implementing high-impact interventions on a national scale capable of involving a significant number of prisoners.

The bill first of all introduces some corrective measures to the prison regulations on training and work, recovering the necessary equality between free workers and restricted workers, and for the latter between external work and so-called “internal” work (i.e. employed by the prison administration).

These are just a few of the innovations introduced by the CNEL's bill on this specific matter: application of the national, territorial and company collective agreement drawn up by the most representative trade unions and employers' associations; equalisation of the overall economic and regulatory treatment; exemption of distraint of the four-fifths of the remuneration.

Among the particularly important measures aimed at increasing the overall capacity building inherent in prison study, training and work are:

- the legislative transposition and the consequent permanent structuring of the integrated multi-level governance system started experimentally as from 2022 by the Regions through the establishment of the network of territorial steering committees, further enhancing in this context the supporting and coordinating role of the “Cassa delle Ammende”;

- the establishment of a specific “fund for the social and labour reintegration of persons subject to measures restricting or depriving them of their liberty”;

the establishment at the CNEL of a “Permanent Secretariat for the financial, social and labour inclusion of persons deprived of their liberty”;

- the benefits of the so-called “Smuraglia Law” will be broadened;

- the prison commissions are strengthened, as well as the regional commissions for prison labour, a tool that has been underused to date and which, with the changes proposed by the CNEL, will give a voice to the trade unions and the third sector organisations present in the territories, acquiring the important function of validating the certification procedures of the training and professional skills of prisoners, assessed by the prison commissions.

Also of particular interest is the measure provided in favour of young prisoners, which aims to offer a concrete chance to girls and boys between 18 and 25 years of age leaving the prison who have successfully participated in vocational training courses.

In addition, the goal of “Zero Recidivism” is pursued by focusing on training, with the possibility of granting prisoners permits for school-leaving exams and graduation exams, and on welfare and social security benefits, with the activation by patronage bodies and the third sector of special information prison desks called to provide free assistance services and work experience support, delegating the Government to make changes to the implementing regulation of prisons in order to:

- enhance the principle of horizontal subsidiarity, implementing initiatives to promote the employment of persons subject to prison treatment and encouraging interaction with private economic initiative;

- systematise the relations between businesses and prison facilities by setting up an IT platform and a single access point at the prison administration in order, where possible, to foster interaction between private employers, individual prison boards and individual prison administrations;

- encourage the acceptance of work orders coming from private parties, also providing for the extension of the possibility - already envisaged - for prisoners to carry out work at home, and also introducing the tool of smart work and telework, in order to increase the employability of inmates.