It starts at the Como Prison and new business project in prison promoted by Intesa Sanpaolothe first Italian banking group positioned at the top of the world for social impact and European leader in sustainable finance. The initiative was presented together with the Como prison, Don Gino Rigoldi, the inspirer of the project, the Regional Office and the client companies engaged by the Regional Directorate of the bank present in the territory that developed the project coordinated by the Sales & Marketing Business Directorate led by Anna Roscio, to promote the meeting between companies and workers trained at the laboratory created inside the prison.
A virtuous model of collaboration between private and public entities with a view to the common good and which involves, in addition to the banking group, the District Prison and the Regional Office, the MekTech group, specialized in the design and construction of robotic systems and plants, and the Ozanam cooperative which promotes the insertion of people in difficulty into the world of work.
The program allows you to eleven inmates to specialize in the creation of electrical panels complexes commissioned by MekTechoffering a technical training for the issue of a certificate of participation in the course for electrician cabling technician and a job, contributing to their path of social rehabilitation and reintegration into professional life. This is a professionalizing activity that will allow the potential job placement once the prisoner has finished serving his sentence.
Intesa Sanpaolo, through the Regional Directorate present in the territory and the Sales & Marketing Directorate for Enterprises, structures of the Banca dei Territori Division led by Stefano Barrese, has promoted the business project in the Como penitentiary institution, considering support for the prison world to be fundamental in a broader programme of social commitment for the inclusion of the most vulnerable also in the world of work, for the reduction of inequalities and the fight against poverty, which represent the pillars in the business plan strongly desired by CEO Carlo Messina.
The initiative was made possible thanks to involvement of Intesa Sanpaolo for Social Affairs, within the area Chief Social Impact Officer led by Paolo Bonassithe structure dedicated to combating poverty and promoting social inclusion which, through collaborations initiated in the area between different subjects, creates alliances and partnerships between the profit and non-profit, public and private sectors.
Mektechwhich has fully embraced the project, is a highly technological industrial group, based in Giussano (MB), and has committed to purchasing the electrical panels in the next few years made by prisoners and intended for the robotic systems and systems produced by the company. Collaboration with is fundamental Ozanam, Cooperativa Sociale di Solidarietà di Saronno, which acts as an “employer” of prisoners, oversees training activities within the prison and coordinates work activities. For over 30 years, Ozanam has been involved in job placement paths for “fragile” people, who it follows with the help of specialized personnel through individualized paths and in collaboration with the territorial services.
The Como District Prison coordinated the recruitment and selection activities of the inmates who have the opportunity to participate in the project, in addition to having provided for the renovation and compliance, with ministerial funds, of the premises used for recreational and sports activities as well as the laboratory, inaugurated today, which extends over a space of approximately 180 square meters inside the prison.
Intesa Sanpaolo, thanks to the skills involved within the Group, supported the renovation of the premises and made the equipment and work tools available, free of charge for the first two years through the Intesa Sanpaolo Group company Rent Foryou, dedicated to operational rental. The entire production process will take place in the laboratory, from the arrival of the components to the creation of the product packaged by the new technicians.
According to some data released by the National Council of Economy and Labor (CNEL) together with the Ministry of Justice, there are over 60 thousand people detained in Italian prisons, 60 thousand life projects to collect and rebuild. 70% of them fall into error again, losing, after years of imprisonment, the possibility of personal redemption and social rehabilitation. Again according to CNEL estimates, the recidivism rate drops to 2% when a training and work path is started. The professionalization of prisoners leads, in addition to the reduction of the recidivism rate, also to lower burdens for the community, contributing to social reintegration, to a lower saturation of prisons and to greater security of the territory.
In this context it fits in the social impact project presented today at the Como Prison, a bridge between prison and society, with a program that creates a system between public and private, brings work and training in a logic of recovery of people, reintegration into society, respect for human dignity and offers means to prisoners to support their families.
Today’s meeting was attended, among others, by the Undersecretary of Justice Andrea Ostellari, by Maria Milano Regional Superintendent of Lombardy, by the CEO of Mektech Gaetano Sauli, by the Vice President of Ozanam Edoardo Mazzucchelli and by Don Gino Rigoldi, historical chaplain of the Beccaria juvenile prison as well as founder of Comunità Nuova, the Foundation that helps young people in difficulty find work and that hosts single women with children is named after him, opening the prospect of an expansion of the model to other territories.
With the fundraising platform of the bank For Funding, from which the Como prison itself benefited, it was possible to create the Life Patha gym built together with the inmates in the larger project of the Insubria Volunteer Service Center to promote social and work inclusion.
