Alemanno speaks out: “Roggero? Describe prison life as I did”

“Mario Roggero? I hope he speaks out, as an ordinary citizen, just as I have done, and makes it clear to everyone what Italian prisons are like today: utter madness.” Gianni Alemanno speaks to “Il Foglio” whilst the Piedmontese jeweller is coming to terms with life as a prisoner in a cell at Bollate Prison. “That’s one of the best in Italy. It’s the prison with the most cultural, educational and vocational training programmes. And you can see that from the low reoffending rate too,” assures the former mayor of Rome, who was released from Rebibbia prison less than a month ago. “But for Roggero, it’s a different story: he’s over 70 and his sentence is clearly disproportionate. Fourteen years and nine months is the sentence given for premeditated murder, not for a situation as complicated as his.” What advice can he give the jeweller to help him cope with life behind bars? “He must do as much as possible, get involved in any rehabilitative activities and not end up ‘labelled’, that is, just lying around on his bunk,” says Alemanno. “He must understand, amidst the slower pace of daily life in prison, the essential values of life. And turn it into an experience of spiritual renewal.” And in doing so, he should also take up the baton from the former mayor and the countless letters written during his time in prison: “If the parole board acts appropriately, in a few months’ time Roggero could be placed under house arrest, which is the best possible form of detention for someone over 70. But in the meantime, I hope he continues to make his voice heard. I hope he will recount the many paradoxical aspects of prison life. And that he will essentially demonstrate that prison conditions are neither harsh nor lenient; they are simply absurd. And this,” he continues, “is linked to a department of the prison service that is clearly being run in an inadequate manner, especially following Delmastro’s departure.”

There are those, such as Matteo Salvini, who would even like to put Roggero forward as a candidate. “On this point, I agree with Roberto Vannacci: the situation cannot be resolved in this way. Rather, we need new laws that provide greater support for citizens when they find themselves in a position where they have to defend themselves.” The Lega has also drawn up a draft bill to extend the scope of self-defence, providing for the non-punishment of ‘any reaction’ in the immediate aftermath of an armed attack at home or in a shop ‘regardless of the proportionality of the means used, the persistence of the danger and the strictly defensive nature of the conduct’. Alemanno says he has not yet read it, “but I believe a system of mitigating circumstances must still be established, because sometimes citizens find themselves acting in extreme and paradoxical circumstances such as his. Roggero,” he says, “has endured a series of violent incidents and endless robberies; he suffered the humiliation of being bullied inside the jewellery shop. A reaction such as his is certainly not self-defence, but I believe it is largely understandable, and should be treated very differently in terms of sentencing.”

Perhaps ‘Futuro Nazionale’, of which Alemanno is now a leading figure, could plug this gap. However, progress is slow. “We haven’t yet finalised anything with the General regarding the justice policy. But in the coming days I’ll be meeting Professor Lorenzo Gasperini, who is working on the policy, to try and clarify the situation.” One thing is certain: “I am not in favour of a lenient or soft prison system, as one might think. I am in favour of a humane prison system geared towards rehabilitation, one that makes sense and is logical. And I believe that on these issues I will also find common ground with someone like Vannacci,” he adds, “who has not had my experience and who, in his words, might appear much tougher.”