carlo nordio justice reform prison and penalties

Giorgia Meloni got Carlo Nordio to vote for the FdI during the election of the President of the Republic last January, opposing him to Sergio Mattarella. From now on, the former Venetian prosecutor is Minister of Justice and announces his reforms.

“Prisons are my priority,” the Meloni government’s justice minister said today, answering a question from reporters about what reforms to address. His statements arrived as soon as he arrived at the Roma Tre University for the presentation of the prison police schedule. The Minister then entered the Aula Magna of the Faculty of Law, where the event took place, which was also attended by the head of Dap (the Department of Prison Administration) Carlo Renoldi.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio. Photo Ansa / Angelo Carconi

During the debate for the vote of confidence in the Senate, on October 26, Giorgia Meloni declared: “We cannot fight prison overcrowding by decriminalizing. I believe in the value and principle of legal certainty. Liliana Segre said that you have to know how to choose the right. But how do you help those who choose the right, if those who choose the wrong never pay? I believe that the certainty of the law also depends on the certainty of the sentence”.

A line which is not in contradiction with that of his Minister of Justice. “In our program, there is the reinforcement of the construction structures” of prisons “and human resources,” Nordio said. He then underlined that “we must build new prisons and improve those that already exist” and “also improve the economic treatment” of prison guards and those who work in prisons “under really difficult conditions”.

Nordio with Meloni in the Senate. Photo Ansa / Riccardo Antimiani

Nordio and the certainty of punishment

“The certainty of the sentence, which is one of the cornerstones of the guarantor, provides that the sentence must be carried out,” said Minister Nordio at the University of Rome. “But that doesn’t just mean prison and above all it doesn’t mean a cruel and inhumane prison that would be contrary to the Constitution and Christian principles.” “The prisoner must be helped in his recovery” or “at least so as not to make it worse in relation to his entry into prison”. For Nordio, a lot can be done by strengthening the sporting and professional activities of prisoners.

The new Keeper of the Seals, Carlo Nordio, has been a magistrate since 1977, reports Wikipedia. He retired in 2017. He was deputy prosecutor of Venice and holder of the Mose investigation. But also the protagonist of the famous investigation season of ‘Clean Hands’ on the cash bribes of entrepreneurs to corrupt politicians of all stripes. Nordio investigated the so-called “red” cooperatives, that is, the various entrepreneurial activities historically attributable to the Communist Party. In the 1980s he carried out investigations into the Venetian Red Brigades and kidnappings and in the 1990s he investigated the crimes of Tangentopoli. He was highly controversial with the Milan pool magistrates, including Antonio Di Pietro, accusing them of being motivated by political intentions.

Antonio Di Pietro, of whom Nordio was a co-opponent. Photo Ansa / Alessandro Di Meo