The Sardinian mafia bristles at the prisoner scheme

NURRO, Italy, Feb 7 (Reuters) – In the remote town of Nuro on the Italian island of Sardinia, a high stone wall rings the local prison, a fortress-like complex once famous for keeping high-profile mobsters and convicted terrorists away from the mainland.

Only a handful of top mafiosi remain in custody and Sardinia is no longer seen as a dumping ground for criminals, instead building an international reputation around tourism.

But that could change under Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s government’s plans that have worried residents.

In December, a justice undersecretary said some 750 prisoners held under the harsh “41bis” regime would be concentrated in some dedicated facilities across Italy, under the supervision of special guard units to improve security.

Sardinia has been told it could receive about a third of them, split between Sassari in the north, already home to around 90, the capital Cagliari, where around 90 have arrived this month, and Nuoro – reviving old stigma concerns.

“Sardinia does not deserve to be seen as the Cayenne of Italy,” said Governor Alessandra Tode, invoking the infamous former French Guiana penal colony on Devil’s Island.

Concerns about mafia infiltration

Italy’s 41bis regime, named after the law that regulates it, is one of the most restrictive in Europe. Introduced in 1992 after the murder of anti-mafia judge Giovanni Falcone, it imposes almost complete isolation on inmates and was designed to prevent bosses from running their operations from behind bars.

The law says it must be applied “preferentially” to Italian islands. The late boss of the Sicilian Mafia, Salvatore “Toto” Riina, was once among those held in Sardinia.

Locals and officials fear the government plan could prompt mafia groups to settle near jailed relatives from mainland Italy, creating opportunities to launder money and infiltrate businesses, particularly in less developed areas such as Neuro, a city of 30,000.

Silvio Lai, a Sardinian lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party, visited the city’s prison last month and said renovation work was already underway, potentially making room for at least 30 new maximum-security prisoners.

“Weak economies can be infiltrated easily, and Nuoro is about an hour’s drive from Costa Smeralda,” Lai said, adding that the mafia’s wing in the city could quickly spread to the island’s luxury tourist resorts.

The Justice Ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the work.

Improving national security

Autonomous mafia groups have never emerged in sparsely populated Sardinia, but magistrates say investigations have been opened into alleged clan penetration in the north of the island, possibly spurred by the presence of detained mobsters.

“Prosecutors are closely monitoring the case of Camorra (Mafia group based around Naples) investments … especially in the tourism, hospitality and restaurant sectors,” said Luigi Patronaggio, chief prosecutor in Cagliari.

In a December meeting with regional officials, Justice Undersecretary Andrea Delmastro dell’Vedov downplayed the risk of mass migration to Sardinia, the Minutes show, arguing that families of 41bis detainees typically do not leave clan-controlled areas.

“This (plan) will ensure greater national security… will make individual prisons safer because only special prison guard units will be deployed,” Delmastro said.

However, Maria Cristina Ornano, head of Cagliari’s Penal Enforcement Tribunal, said the police and judiciary would need to increase security resources if there were more crowds.

“Once organized crime takes root here, we will not be able to eradicate it. We can see it in parts of southern Italy, which is one of the most economically and socially deprived areas,” she told Reuters.

‘Foot Soldiers’

Nuro residents and officials say the threat today is not violence but white-collar crime.

“The mafia no longer calls the shots, it bids for public tenders. And with significant European Union funding flows, the threat of organized crime infiltration increases,” said Sebastian Coco, a lawyer and local politician.

Tourism accounts for only 7% of production in the Nuoro region, Chamber of Commerce data show in 2025, where the economy is mainly dependent on agriculture and dominated by small firms.

Pietro Borotzu, a Catholic priest who runs a prisoner rehabilitation cooperative in Nuoro, said the precarious working conditions and low pay provided an ideal environment for gangs.

“In this type of context, organized crime can find a lot of foot soldiers,” he said.

Business lobby Confindustria accused successive governments of failing to invest in infrastructure and jobs in Nuro.

“We are more of an island than Sardinia, far from ports and airports. We need business incentives, and instead we are sentenced to 41bis prisoners,” said Pierpaolo Milia, the local head of the group.

Poor health care

Like most of southern Italy, Sardinia has a weak healthcare system and an aging population.

Cagliari court documents show that the island, home to 1.5 million people, already has one of Italy’s highest prisoner-to-resident ratios, and residents face higher prison health care costs than in other parts of the country.

Transferring a mobster for medical care requires an escort of dozens of prison guards, and the increasing number of such hospitalizations can force authorities to close entire wards.

“If you have to treat one of them, you have to stop everything else, blocking public health services,” said Giacomo Porcu, the mayor of Utah, which hosts the Cagliari prison.

Irene Testa, regional guarantor for prisoners, said the government had not yet made any commitments to strengthen prison health services or reduce the potential burden on general services.

“The island’s prisons are already on their knees. We cannot accept to become Italy’s penal colony again.”

(Reporting by Angelo Amante Editing by Gareth Jones)