CNN
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When Giulia Manca traveled to Pianosa, a former Italian jail island, in 2011, she was trying ahead to a break within the solar earlier than returning house.
However greater than 12 years after checking into the beachfront Lodge Milena, which is staffed by convicts on supervised launch, Manca remained on the island referred to as Alcatraz within the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Now the one lady dwelling within the ghost village of Pianosa, a part of the Tuscan Archipelago Marine Park, Manca serves as each lodge supervisor and supervisor of the island’s rehabilitation program, led by nesta non-profit group with the social mission of serving to susceptible folks, equivalent to prisoners, to return to society, and the Tuscan jail authorities.
“I stayed on the lodge for every week and I did not wish to go away,” Manca tells CNN. “It was a singular trip and the rehabilitation mission fascinated me, how these prisoners got a second probability in life.
![Guests pose for a photo with the condemned men who work at Pianosa's hotel.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230221111338-03-body-woman-lives-on-italian-prison-island.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
“I fell in love with Pianosa. Its silence, the turquoise and clear paradisiacal sea, the peaceable starry nights”.
As soon as nicknamed the Satan’s Island, Pianosa, positioned between Corsica and the mainland, is now a spot of happiness beloved for its lovely seashores and plush inexperienced vegetation.
Manca, one of many island’s two everlasting residents, lives and works alongside a jail guard, in addition to 10 inmates, who work as cooks, gardeners, waiters, seaside cleaners and dishwashers at Lodge Milena, the island’s solely lodging. .
Surrounded by pine bushes, Lodge Milena has frescoed ceilings and 11 rooms with picket furnishings and beautiful sea views, in addition to a big patio, the place inmates serve night drinks to visitors, a restaurant and a bar.
Manca had solely been a visitor on the distinctive lodge, which is open all yr, for a number of days, when the then supervisor knowledgeable her that the institution was in monetary difficulties and vulnerable to closing.
If this occurred, the detainees must be transferred again to jail, placing a fast finish to their passage by way of Pianosa.
“I felt I needed to do one thing to assist them or they might return behind bars, inside small cells with no probability to begin over and be taught a job that may assist them as soon as they’re launched,” provides Manca, who beforehand labored as a journey agent .
Manca, who grew up in Tuscany, determined to remain and tackle the place of lodge supervisor. She says she initially labored free of charge, utilizing her administration expertise to assist safe the lodge’s future.
In only a few years, Manca was in a position to flip issues round considerably, and Lodge Milena grew to become a preferred venue for weddings and birthday events, the place visitors, partly attracted by the lodge’s unconventional workers, flocked right here.
![Pianosa has become a popular retreat for its beautiful beaches and lush green vegetation.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230221111333-02-body-woman-lives-on-italian-prison-island.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
Situated close to Gorgona, one other Italian jail island, Pianosa was created through the seventeenth century to restrict outlaws, bandits and revolutionaries.
The island served as a base for a most safety jail till 1998, when the jail was closed. Its few residents ultimately left and Pianosa was abandoned for a few years.
Guests weren’t allowed on the island till comparatively lately, and those that go to can solely come as a part of an organized boat tour that have to be booked by way of tour operators.
To be admitted to the Lodge Milena’s rehabilitation program, candidates will need to have served at the very least one third of their jail sentence and handed a collection of rigorous psychological and social analysis checks.
Over the past 12 years, Manca confronted 100 criminals on parole for a mess of crimes, together with homicide.
Though he notes that lots of the prisoners have been convicted of far more than “stealing daisies”, Manca has at all times felt snug on the island and considers it a protected haven.
He additionally strongly believes that ex-offenders needs to be given the chance to contribute to society reasonably than spend extra time behind bars.
“I imagine within the energy of redemption and that even criminals needs to be given a second probability, they should not rot behind bars, however be actively concerned in rehabilitation,” she says. “I prefer to see them come again to life by way of work.”
Generally known as the “Queen of Pianosa,” Manca admits her work has raised eyebrows amongst her mates and family members due to the perceived dangers of being the one lady with a gaggle of convicts.
“Folks saved saying I used to be loopy to tackle a job like that,” says Manca, who can be a member of Arnera. “Being the one lady who works and lives with male criminals who haven’t been charged with minor crimes.
“However I by no means felt scared or anxious. I by no means gave it a second thought. I really feel safer with them right here than within the metropolis with all these loopy folks operating round, you by no means know who you may stumble upon.”
Whereas being answerable for a gaggle of offenders has its challenges, Manca says he does his greatest to create clear boundaries to make sure the rehabilitation program is efficient.
She explains that her relationship along with her workers is one in all mutual respect and that she was in a position to obtain a steadiness by retaining her distance and being authoritative however open, with the intention to help them.
Every week, Manca boards the ferry for a three-hour sea journey to mainland Tuscany to run errands and bureaucratic issues, leaving at daybreak and returning to Pianosa at evening.
Manca factors out that, not like close by Gorgona, the place convicts should return to their cells after disconnecting, these in Pianosa can roam freely.
![Pianosa served as a base for a maximum security prison until 1998.](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/230221111352-05-body-woman-lives-on-italian-prison-island.jpg?q=w_1110,c_fill)
Inmates listed below are paid a month-to-month wage for his or her hospitality work and keep within the former jail, which has been transformed into cozy studios, with a health club, TV, kitchen and personal rooms with loos.
They’re additionally given cell phones to allow them to keep up a correspondence with their households.
Italian prisons are thought of among the many most inhumane and overcrowded in Europe, with 120 inmates for each 100 beds, in keeping with a 2020 Council of Europe report, whereas suicide in jail has elevated by 300% since 1960, with a 75% recidivism fee . in crime
Subsequently, Pianosa is undoubtedly a way more enticing different for individuals who are nearing the top of their sentence.
Manca is pleased with the success of the “Pianosa mannequin”, explaining that the speed of return to crime for individuals who have frolicked on the island has dropped to 0.01%.
“At evening they’re free to go right down to the seaside and take a dip,” explains Manca.
“Nonetheless, they have to go away their lodging early within the morning and return at a sure time within the night, they’re nonetheless below supervision and there’s the guard watching over them.
Offenders can serve the remainder of their sentence working on the lodge in the event that they behave nicely, and a few have been right here for 5 to 10 years.
However those that present no willingness to vary threat being despatched again to jail to finish the rest of their sentence.
“All have served at the very least one-third of their sentence in jail and have undergone strict psychological and social analysis checks to find out that they’re now not harmful and appropriate for the rehabilitation program, (and) that they’re actually sorry for what they’ve accomplished.” provides Manca.
“They have to exhibit on daily basis their willingness to work and put together for a greater life. I do not settle for slips.”
La Manca likes to keep up a correspondence with those that left Pianosa to begin a brand new life, placing into follow the talents they realized on the island, by way of social networks.
He explains that a number of went on to turn into inmate councilors in different prisons after working on the lodge.
Manca is massively pleased with her function within the course of and says those that initially doubted her determination to remain at Pianosa all these years in the past have come round.
“Even my daughter Yolanda, who was a bit of skeptical of my work as a baby, got here to worth the island and perceive the significance of what I do, and now she tells me that I’m a fortunate individual,” says Manca.