PESARO – A place of training and reintegration into society through work for prisoners, a center where household appliances and bicycles can be repaired and then donated to communities. With this vision, the multifunctional laboratory inside the Pesaro prison was born and will soon open its activities. To make it possible, the Bracciaperte association from Pesaro, Active for 13 years in regional and national penitentiary institutions, in various actions for socio-work purposes.
Volunteers are completing finishing touches and furnishings. The new space is the final stage of the larger project “Craftsmen inside”, born in the last four months, a period in which the Bracciaperte association undertook to manage the training of twelve inmates through a course for household appliance technicians created with the contribution of Cassa Ammende and coordinated by the Senigallia training body 9000uno. «After the training, the Prison Management with the contribution of Ats1 gave us the go-ahead to design the multifunctional laboratory», explains Mario Di Palma, president of Bracciaperte and responsible, together with Katja Parcesepe, for the teaching and didactics of the course. The laboratory will be an assistance center where donated products can be repaired and made available to families in difficulty.
Di Palma continues: «There are many benefits generated in the area by such an important project, including the training of prisoners, the rediscovery of old crafts, the recovery of refrigerators, washing machines, bicycles and other equipment, for the benefit of the community». All this will be guaranteed by the presence of Bracciaperte volunteers and other associations involved. «Work is the basis of human dignity and is the best way to avoid recidivism. Too often the sentence is served without paths for reintegration into society being initiated”, continues Di Palma. Over the years, Bracciaperte has involved around fifteen hundred prisoners in its workshops, managed by volunteers and artisans. In 2013 the association won the “Cohesion, volunteering and enterprise” recognition of the Marche Region and in 2021 the activities carried out during Covid earned it the award in Rome at the International Volunteering Day.
Last year, together with the Wanda Diferdinando Foundation and the Toc association, Bracciaperte made “Stanza libera tutti” possible, a series of actions and meetings with clowns to improve spaces aimed at minors who visit their loved ones in prison. Furthermore, Bracciaperte has created two technical courses in the penitentiary institute of Pesaro and with the Isaia association, in household appliance repair and bicycle mechanics, and an artistic workshop for the scenography of a show at the Aias in Pesaro.
«We believe that the network is fundamental so that the Third Sector can widely reach as many people in difficulty as possible. For this reason, for years we have been meeting children in schools of various levels to raise awareness of the issue of volunteering and there are many who join our projects – reflects Mario di Palma, who concludes with regret – However, it is necessary to highlight how the issue of volunteering in prison too often it is covered by a veil of prejudice. Training and charitable activities are almost always entrusted to volunteers who almost always operate self-financing and with limited resources. For years we have been looking for a place to create a laboratory that can also involve young people who have dropped out of school. But we have now given up on it, resigning ourselves to the fact that we will only continue the laboratories in prison.”
