Young people and ‘massive’. Nordio’s take on the youth riots – far from a ‘Chilean’ perspective – and the real issues: IPMs and education

It is exasperating to have to point out that headlines such as ‘“Mass arrests of minors, we want to expand youth prisons”. The opposition is up in arms’ are the exact opposite of what Justice Minister Nordio meant to say on Sky. His was not a threat, but a statement of fact: “a series of mass arrests of minors had never happened before” and “the youth prison system is indeed under strain”. No Chilean-style threats; rather, the problem is that in four years, no new “places” have been created in prisons and youth detention centres (let alone alternative placements).

The other problem is that the political opposition (not to mention the nonsense on social media: “They want homes, let’s give them prisons”) largely shares the views of Michele Albiani, the PD-appointed chair of the Committee for Security, Social Cohesion and Night-time Policies (sic!) at Milan City Council. Interviewed by MilanoQuotidiano.it, he said: “These vandals are the product of years of Giorgia Meloni.” Perhaps the left had not anticipated them, caught unawares in the dead of night. So, despite Beppe Sala having shifted from a ‘Chilean-style’ alarm to the need for ‘repression’, it is easier to shift the blame onto the government than to acknowledge the lack of social policies which, in the city at the epicentre of the youth riots, has been evident for decades. Bipolar propaganda. In the immediate term, the result is as described by Nordio: too many arrests of minors and nowhere to put them. This is not just a problem for Milan: isn’t the decree that is filling the Juvenile Detention Centres (IPMs) called ‘Caivano’? Staying with Milan, the Fondazione Cariplo’s 2023 ‘Report on Inequalities’ noted, for example, that 77.5 per cent of secondary school pupils in the city centre have parents with university degrees, whilst at a vocational school in the suburbs, 31 per cent of parents have only a lower secondary school certificate. Educational poverty stems from this. Fifty-five per cent of sixth-form students believed they would be working abroad in 10 years’ time, compared with 29 per cent of those attending vocational schools. People also dream differently. However, the report notes that students from the ‘suburbs’ do not (or did not?) believe they have fewer opportunities for their future.

We can now return to the issue of the ‘massive’ arrests and the Juvenile Detention Centres (IPMs). Now that Franco Gabrielli has also stated that ‘repression is not a dirty word’, it is worth noting that there are currently 35 minors under arrest in Milan. Is this really such a huge number as to overwhelm the Beccaria, a Juvenile Detention Centre that should be structurally equipped to handle even emergencies? Or is there something that has not been working for some time – indeed, that functions solely to cause harm – due to errors that have nothing to do with the remarks made by Nordio yesterday? According to data from the Antigone Association’s 2025 Report on Juvenile Justice, the number of young people in juvenile detention centres has risen to 572, an increase of 50 per cent compared with the end of 2022. Furthermore, the number of minors and young adults ‘in the system’ (subject to alternative measures, such as probation) had reached 17,026 – a quarter more than three years ago. The primary cause, recognised by all, is the Caivano Decree, which has led to an increase in offences and custodial sentences. Yet no one has taken any steps either to rethink juvenile detention or to provide the necessary facilities. The government’s Prison Plan is severely behind schedule, and refurbishments have reduced the number of available places: how Nordio can possibly think of ‘potentially’ remedying the situation ‘so that sections of prisons and correctional facilities intended for adults can instead be allocated to minors’ is a mystery that is not amusing but tragic. Focusing solely on Milan, where there have also been serious cases of abuse and violence leading to dramatic escapes and uprisings, it must be added that the influx of ‘unaccompanied’ foreign nationals has for years created a permanent state of overcrowding and strain, undermining the few spaces that should be set aside for ‘rehabilitative purposes’. In February 2025, new facilities for women (an art workshop, a gym and a library) were opened, but this was thanks to a not-for-profit project by the Francesca Rava Foundation. The state can wait.

Then there is a cultural issue, rather than a political one, concerning how the problematic situation facing young people should be addressed. Susanna Marietti, national coordinator of Antigone and head of the Observatory on Juvenile Justice, said when presenting the report: “A veritable moral panic has been whipped up around young people. The public has been led to perceive teenagers as a threat. A significant proportion of complaints come to nothing. It is fear that is growing, fuelled by the alarm artificially generated by this government.” Apart from the fact that, clearly, the alarm was not “artificially generated”, it is obvious that this is not merely a matter of legislation or better management of the welfare system. Completely absent from Minister Nordio’s remarks is the notion of taking responsibility. This is precisely what Don Gino Rigoldi, the long-serving chaplain at Beccaria Prison, who spoke a few days ago at Palazzo Marino, clearly articulated: “We must take care of these young people. They have lost the right to an education. We are betraying that right.”