Presentation of the volume: “Prison Institutions between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Doctrine, Legislation and Practice”

On Thursday 19 February 2026 at 4 pm, at the Cagliari State Archives, the volume “Prison Institutions between the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: Doctrine, Legislation and Practice”.

The book, the second volume following the one presented on 29 January, is the result of research conducted as part of a PRIN (Projects of Relevant National Interest) funded by the Ministry of Universities and Research, entitled “Punishment, Reform, Reintegration. Prisons between criminal science, prison law, prison administration, labour, hygiene and healthcare treatment, and architecture: three case studies in the ‘island of punishments’ during the Kingdom of Italy (the penal bath of Saint Bartholomew, the penal colony of Castiadas and the prison of Buoncammino)”. The project is led by the University of Cagliari.

The research has highlighted the historical value of prison archives as a key source for reconstructing the institutional, social and human history connected with the prison system. The project has in fact drawn on research conducted on the prison records held in the archive. From 2015 to 2021, this documentation was transferred to the Cagliari State Archives as a result of effective cooperation with the Regional Office of the Prison Administration within the relevant Archives Supervisory Commission.

After the institutional greetings, there will be contributions from Gilberto Ganassi, Deputy Public Prosecutor at the Ordinary Court of Cagliari, Maria Cristina Ornano, President of the Ordinary Supervisory Court of Cagliari, and Marco Porcu, Head of Office I of the Regional Office of the Prison Administration – Sardinia. The session will be moderated by Michelina Masia of the University of Cagliari. The editors of the volume will also be present.