Former mayor of Rome and a historical figure of the Italian far right, Gianni Alemanno is now leading a campaign for prison reform, an unexpected commitment after he himself spent 18 months in prison. His activism comes as he remains politically close to figures advocating a very hard line on security and justice.
Aged 68, Gianni Alemanno has spent most of his career within the Italian right wing. A former member of the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a post-fascist party, he served as Minister of Agriculture under Silvio Berlusconi before leading the Rome city council between 2008 and 2013.
Released on June 24 from Rebibbia prison in Rome, after a conviction for influence peddling and abuse of power, which he has always contested, Alemanno claims that his incarceration made him realize the gravity of the situation in Italian prisons. He describes dilapidated and severely overcrowded facilities, while the occupancy rate of prisons in Italy is close to 140%.
"Only those who have spent time in prison, or who have relatives incarcerated, understand the problem of prisons. Others do not understand it, they do not even see it," he said in an interview with Reuters.
The former mayor also recalled that he had already served time in prison in 1982, after being sentenced to ten months for throwing a Molotov cocktail at the Soviet embassy during a far-right demonstration. He ironically noted that upon his incarceration in 2024, he found himself in the same cell as more than forty years earlier.
His commitment to prisoners' rights could, however, face political resistance. Gianni Alemanno is now a member of the new far-right party founded by former general Roberto Vannacci, known for his hardline stance on crime, which makes his new campaign all the more unexpected.
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