Nuove pratiche di sfruttamento lavorativo dei detenuti: il caso del lavoro di pubblica utilità

The article analyses a peculiar form of prisoners’ exploitation through their employment in unpaid public works for the State and for private employers. The article shows that the institution of unpaid public works for prisoners, introduced in Italian punitive system in 2018, contradicts both the penitentiary labour law and the model of restorative justice to whom is formally linked. Prison labour, indeed, has passed through an important process of normalization that has brought to recognize to prisoners most of free labour’s rights, such as the right to remuneration and to full inclusion in the Italian social security system. While the Italian restorative justice model generally uses public works as an alternative to imprisonment, not in addition to it as stated by the 2018’s reform. The article also assesses the compatibility of prisoners’ public works with the jurisprudence of Italian Constitutional Court and of the European Court of human rights. Finally, the institution is analysed in the light of ILO’s convention on Forced Labour, concluding that it cannot be considered legitimate since prisoners’ labour for private companies must be paid with full normal wages to be considered genuinely volunteer, if not it falls under the scope of the Convention as a case of forced labour.