Education for inmates in the Kingdom of Italy

The case of the Penal Institution of Porto Empedocle (1869–1881)

Abstract

This research, part of a long and detailed survey of active schools in southern Italy conducted within the framework
of the PRIN 2017 project Literacy and Development in Southern Italy from Unification to the Giolittian
Era (1861-1914), draws on previously unpublished archival sources (quarterly reports, statistics, etc.) to document
the existence and operation of an elementary school for convicts at the Penal Institution of Porto Empedocle
between 1869 and 1881. It contributes to shedding light on the previously unexplored Italian juridical-pedagogical
tradition that developed outside the traditional educational channels in the wake of unification.