Convict and critical criminology: Some challenges emerged during a mentoring experience

Elton Kalica

doi:10.35295/osls.iisl.2169

Authors

Elton Kalica University of Padua https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5161-5552

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2169

Keywords:

organised crime, special prison regimes, mafia, gangs, desistance

Abstract

This paper examines critical issues that arose during an innovative educational initiative directed at inmate students, offering both a reflective analysis of prison living conditions and the acquisition of methodological tools useful for prison research. With a particular focus on the potential and challenges of developing prison-based projects within the framework of Convict Criminology, the author employs an auto-ethnographic narrative to illuminate the theoretical and methodological difficulties encountered by participants. Specifically, this work problematizes the internalization of the prison’s institutional culture as it hinders the development of the cultural and political awareness necessary to analyse prison through a critical perspective.

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Author Biography

Elton Kalica, University of Padua

Elton Kalica (Ph.D.) University of Padua. After a personal experience of detention, he founded Italian Convict Criminology. He teaches Prison Sociology at the University of Padua and Sociology of International Relations at the University of Mantua. He has edited the books Farsi la galera (Ombre Corte, 2018) and La pena di morte viva. Ergastolo, 41 bis e diritto penale del nemico (Meltemi, 2019). His research areas include Critical Criminology, Prison Ethnography, Convict Criminology, Abolitionism, Human rights, International relationships, Neo-colonialism. Since 2002, he has been a member of the editorial board of the journal Ristretti Orizzonti. Since 2011, he is member of the scientific committee of the Master’s program in Critical Criminology, in Padua University. He is a human rights activist and co-operates with the Office of the Ombudsman in Padua.

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