Italian
The director of the Vicenza Prison talks about the work behind the walls: overcrowding, inmates without a family support system, and the challenge of social reintegration
Luciana Traetta
Originally from Puglia, she has been in charge of the “Filippo Del Papa” prison in Vicenza since 2023. Appointed to lead the facility at just 28 years old, she is among the youngest prison directors in Italy. She manages a complex and maximum-security facility, facing daily challenges related to overcrowding and personnel management. Traetta combines the responsibility of command with a vision of the prison not only as mere custody but as a place of dignity, care for the individual, and synergy with the external community.
Director Traetta, you have been leading the prison in Vicenza for several years. What does it mean to manage a penitentiary institution today?
It means facing a very complex reality every day, made up of people, stories, and fragilities. Prison is a place that is often only talked about when something dramatic happens, but in reality, it is a world that works daily to ensure safety, legality, and, above all, opportunities for change.
Every day we find ourselves managing very different situations. There are organizational needs, those related to staff, those of the inmates, and those arising from the transformations of society. It is an extremely demanding job, but also profoundly human.
How difficult is it to leave prison at the office and not take it home?
It’s not easy. Sometimes I find myself “shutting down.” Every now and then, they tell me and joke: “The Wi-Fi has gone out”, because I might be there physically, but my mind is somewhere else.
I believe that those who work in this environment must inevitably build a barrier to protect their privacy. It’s a mechanism that arises almost naturally, a form of self-defense necessary to survive and not be crushed by the suffering encountered every day. Because, inevitably, a piece of that pain always comes home with you.
Sometimes I tell my mother what happened during the day: for me, it’s a way to lighten some burdens. Perhaps it works also because she doesn’t know the reality of prison, so the story sheds its gravity and becomes almost a tale, within the limits of what I can share.
My mother often tells me: “Since you started this job, I can’t sleep at night anymore”. And I laugh about it: “Mom, there are still thirty years until retirement, maybe you should start a yoga class!”.
So even his family had to learn about prison?
Absolutely yes. I am the first in my family to work in this field. I have no relatives in the prison administration, no uncles or cousins who are police officers.
At first, everyone was very worried, but also extremely curious: they kept asking me questions to understand what was really happening behind those bars. Over time, they have processed this reality and are learning to understand the prison world.
I believe that private life, family, and relationships are fundamental: in my case, they represent a true lifeline in the face of the difficulties that this job entails.
How has the incarcerated population changed in recent years?
It has changed a lot: what we are observing is an increasingly significant presence of foreign inmates. People coming from countries, cultures, and very different contexts.
In the case of Vicenza, there are some communities that are more represented than others, but in general, we are faced with an extremely heterogeneous population.
This entails new needs, new management methods, and also new difficulties in terms of reintegration.
What is the most urgent problem you are facing today?
Paradoxically, the biggest problem is not inside the prison: it is outside.
Many inmates have no external references. They have no family, no home, no support network.
The housing issue is becoming increasingly serious.
There are inmates who could access alternative measures to detention and thus leave prison. This would also help reduce overcrowding, but they cannot do so because they have no place to go.
To grant an alternative measure, the supervising judge must rely on a residential and often also work reference, but when these elements are lacking, we find ourselves practically without tools.
So the issue of overcrowding is closely related to that of reintegration?
Exactly.
Very often, public debate focuses solely on the number of inmates in institutions, but behind overcrowding lies a much broader problem.
When a person completes their sentence and the gate opens, the prison can no longer intervene.
We can take care of that person, we can offer them training, work, and treatment opportunities, but then comes a moment when they are free again, and the inmate who leaves prison without a support network becomes a problem for society.
That’s why I keep saying that prison doesn’t end when the gate opens.
What would be needed then?
An important cultural and social change. It is necessary to understand that reintegration is not just a problem for the prison administration: it is a collective responsibility.
Those who have a family, even simply a family waiting for them, often face the detention process with a different motivation: they have something to regain, they have something to lose. Those who have no one outside often struggle to imagine a different future, and this can become a huge problem.
There are people who go in and out of jail after twenty-four hours, and when that happens, we need to question it.
Certainly something may not have worked during the detention process, but it is clear that the external network did not work either.
Are you working with the territory to address these issues?
Yes. With the Municipality of Vicenza and other local entities, there are active discussion tables and dialogues specifically on these issues.
The goal is to build concrete support tools because without a home and without a job, the risk of failing reintegration increases enormously.
It’s not enough to talk about employment: we also need to address the issue of housing, which has become one of the main obstacles for many people leaving prison.
What role can education and work play in the process of change?
A fundamental role.
Professional training is one of the most important tools we have because when a person acquires transferable skills, they significantly increase their chances of rebuilding their life.
For this reason, we invest heavily in training programs and work activities: they are not simply employment tools. They are opportunities to regain confidence, responsibility, and autonomy.
After years spent inside the prison system, what have you learned from this experience?
I have learned that behind every inmate there is a story.
This does not mean justifying crimes or forgetting individual responsibilities, but it means understanding that reality is almost always more complex than it appears.
I also learned that prison alone is not enough.
If we really want to reduce recidivism and increase safety, we must build a network that continues to support people even after their sentence is over.
Because the real challenge is not just to guard someone during detention:
the real challenge is to ensure that the inmate, once released, does not need to return.
