Un'esperienza in un carcere minorile

Abstract

Four months are surely not enough to fully understand a totalising experience like juvenile imprisonment. In fact, they might be sufficient only to get closer to 'another world', where other rules and codes give a different rhythm to the daily life inside the perimeter of an historical building. The first time I entered the department I was filled with great curiosity, and mine were wide and watchful, but not inquiring, eyes; I experienced a restless feeling of both fear and desire to see, and I carried a colourful butterfly in my heart, ready to let it fly in such a grey place. Doubts, satisfaction, expectations and disillusion come one after the other to me like puppets in a living theatre; each of them is ready to play an impromptu and immediate role in the script. The courage, or the irresponsibility, to take the risk to organise a New Year's Eve party with the boys, but not exclusively for them. The dangers and the ambiguity which can rise from my being a young female (not male) educator in a completely young male environment. The strength and the simplicity of a smile, of a clear glance which becomes the only secret used to get into contact with someone who is waiting for that, but who might not know it, yet. The importance of strong and qualified professionals to work in a maze full of complex themes and situations, that have winded and twisted, so to find the lost thread and patiently regain the way out.