Abstract
Food has always played a crucial role in human life: it nourishes both body and soul and enables the basic actions of everyday existence. At the same time, food tells the story of our origins and culture; it is a cultural and emotional heritage that accompanies individuals throughout their lives. Depending on how it is provided, food can give or take away dignity, its deprivation being among the most dreadful forms of torture. While the anthropological importance of food has long been acknowledged, its sociological dimension began to be systematically studied only in the 1970s. If nutrition is so meaningful for free people, its significance is even greater for those deprived of liberty, whether temporarily or permanently. This case study focuses on prison food and aims to explore whether healthier, better-quality prison food can contribute to the reeducation and resocialization of inmates. The research was conducted in three Italian prisons using a qualitative methodology: semi-structured interviews and surveys with a sample of 200. The present study has several objectives: first, to document what is actually served daily in these prisons; second, to analyze the context of consumption (in Italy, meals are eaten inside the cell, unlike in other countries where communal dining is the norm); and third, to investigate the psychological and social value that inmates attribute to food. Ultimately, the study seeks to shed light on prisons, social spaces too often forgotten, through the lens of food, an aspect of detention that remains largely unexplored in Italy.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Prison Food, Social Sustainability, Human Dignity, Reeducation
