Higher Education in Prison as a Practice of Resistance in Time of Globalization and Crisis: Considerations Starting from the Italian and Spanish Experiences

This paper intends to focus on the higher education in prison as a strategic tool to build social inclusion. In particular, it examines the Italian and Spanish experiences in this field. In Italy and Spain, the idea of the rehabilitative function of punishment has been supported by a strong ideal motivation. In both countries, the prison system's treatment of inmates was established in opposition to the prison systems designed by authoritarian regimes. However, in the current historical phase, the rhetoric of rehabilitation seems morally legitimize the imprisonment and to encourage the emergence of forms of “symbolic violence”. For this reasons, it is important to consider the value of higher education, and not only simply education and training. The higher education for the prisoners can be the beginning of a freedom path: it is a way to build “freedom” of thought and to practice resistance to all forms of “gallows culture.”