The Project

The University of Milan is committed to guaranteeing people in detention the right to university study and, in general, to improve their living conditions through cultural initiatives and scientific promotion activities. With this intent, on the initiative of Professor Stefano Simonetta, the Prison Project was born in 2015.

The agreement with the Regional Prison Administration Board (PRAP) of Lombardy, first signed in 2015 and then renewed and enriched in 2018, 2021 and 2024, constitutes a commitment between the parties in order to foster the promotion of educational, scientific and cultural initiatives in regional penitentiaries. The University Prison Hub (PUP) of the Statale University was established mainly at the Milanese penitentiaries of Opera and Bollate, and then expanded over the years to include the prisons of San Vittore, Vigevano, Voghera, Pavia, Monza and Lodi. Thanks to this initiative, people housed in regional prison facilities who embark on a university course of study have access to the following opportunities:

• Enroll in one of the courses accessible at subsidized economic conditions;
• Take workshops and educational modules within the prisons and prisons;
• Take advantage of tutoring activities for study assistance;
• Access the University library system on subsidized lending terms;
• Conducting profit and degree examinations inside the prison facility, in case they cannot obtain leave permits.

In the 2024-2025 academic year, the Prison Project counted:

• A total of about 165 restricted students, in all detention regimes, enrolled in all ten Athenaeum faculties;

• About 200 active tutors in each area and for each discipline;

• Approximately 230 examinations taken, within and outside prison institutions;

• A Competent Office with three units of competent administrative staff.