Pastificio Futuro, a job and hope for the inmates of the Casal del Marmo juvenile prison

Inside the Casal del Marmo juvenile prison in Rome, Pastificio Futuro offers a concrete prospect of redemption to the young people imprisoned.

•  Pastificio Futuro, founded in the Casal del Marmo juvenile prison, is active in the production, packaging and sale of pasta.
• It currently employs three adult prisoners supported by some operators, but the goal is to hire twenty internal and external people.
• The initiative offers young inmates a professional, but also educational and training path.

Its mission is contained in its name:The Pastificio Futuro, which arose within the Casal del Marmo juvenile prison in Rome, wants to give a concrete perspective to young prisoners.In a 500 m2 factory, with independent access compared to the penal institute, the young people imprisoned work in the production, packaging and sale of pasta.

A pasta factory in the prison to let young prisoners work

The pasta factory was officially inaugurated a few days ago, but the project, as he says Elio Grossi, volunteer for 35 years in the penitentiary and councilor of the Gustolibero Cooperative which manages the production, dates back to 2013:“Following the visit to the institute by Pope Francis who urged the boys to "not let their hope be stolen", the chaplain at the time, Father Gaetano Greco, had the idea of ​​creating a pasta factory inside some abandoned prison buildings where young inmates can work.To carry out the project, we first asked for permission from the Ministry of Justice to manage these spaces on loan, then we set up the cooperative.Caritas and CEI promised us a substantial non-repayable loan to cover some of the expenses if we had found other resources to achieve complete coverage, resources which we then obtained through participation in a tender from the Ministry of Economic Development.Work began on the construction of the pasta factory in 2022 and in May 2023 we hired the first three people, a girl and two adult boys who committed crimes when they were minors and who are detained in the institution".

A professional and training path

As foreseen by thearticle 21 of the penitentiary law, inmates can leave prison to carry out work activities:“The kids are hired with a regular contract and work four hours a day for five days a week supported by technical operators who teach them the various tasks and by educators who follow them in the training course.It's not just about allowing them to learn a trade, but also about making them grow from a personal and social point of view by learning to maintain concentration during work, respect timetables and deliveries, relate to others and work in a team. ”.

Boys get one salary, while i proceeds from the sale of pasta they support the expenses of the pasta factory, from the raw material to the bills.As explained by the creators of the initiative, what differentiates this proposal from what has been experimented over the years within the institute such as professional courses and workshops is the belief that we should not give "something to do" to the detained children, but provide them with a real prospect of redemption after the detention period.According to data released by Cnel, in Italy, the percentage of those goes back to crime once released from prison he wanders around the 70 percent, while for those who have carried out continuous work and training activity during the detention period the figure drops to 2 percent. 

A quality pasta (and where to buy it)

Currently in prison minors of Casal del Marmo are detained around fifty young people aged 14 to 25, including seven girls and a larger percentage of foreigners.The objective of the entrepreneurial initiative is to produce up to 500 tons of pasta per year so as to be able to progressively assume approximately 20 people between external and internal in a 1:3 ratio.

“To achieve this goal we must make a quality product.For this we use semolina from Lazio, we do bronze drawing and slow drying.However, what gives pasta the greatest value is the message it contains, a message of hope, but not only that.Working here the kids feel for the first time in their lives that someone has faith in them, that it's not true that they're worthless, and this gives them the energy to move forward.We offer an opportunity, it's up to the kids to seize it and put a lot of willpower into it.The contracts are renewed from time to time according to what the judge decides, but also according to the free choice of the children who can continue this path or seek another path".

The products of Pastificio Futuro are available buy online and at the pasta factory sales point and the next goal is to also reach the large-scale distribution.