The number of foreign inmates in Sardinia's prisons is increasing, but multilingual cultural mediators are lacking . The result: "Most of the problems end up falling on the prison officers."
The association Socialismo Diritti Riforme underlines this in a note where it takes stock of the number of foreign-born prisoners held in the island's penitentiaries.
SDR presents data from the Statistics Office of the Department of Penitentiary Administration as of May 31, 2026. Scrolling through the report, the highest number of foreign inmates is recorded in Cagliari-Uta (198 -26.9%), Sassari-Bancali (172 – 29.5) and Mamone-Lodè (108 – 58%).
«If the foreign presence in the open-air prison of Mamone, with 186 inmates for 264 places, is justifiable with the possibility of agricultural work, the situation is different in Cagliari-Uta with 734 people detained for 561 places and in Sassari-Bancali with 583 inmates for 458 places, without forgetting the 90 in the section reserved for 41 bis. Two situations in serious difficulty due to overcrowding made even more unbearable by the great heat of this period», underlines Maria Grazia Caligaris, president of the association “Socialismo Diritti Riforme”, observing that the total number of foreigners (748) «requires a serious organizational commitment also for the cultural and linguistic dynamics».
As for the countries of birth of foreign prisoners in Sardinia, the majority are originally from Morocco (146, 19.57% of the total). According to data from the Ministry, Tunisians are in second place in this ranking with 84 detainees (11.2%) and in third place with 68.
Nigerians are present (9.11%). Relatively significant numbers are also those of Algerians and Romanians, both 58 (7.77%). Then there are the Egyptians (38, 5%) and the Senegalese (33, 4.42%). More limited numbers for Gambians (24), Pakistanis (13) and Turks (12).
"It's clear," Caligaris states, "that the Ministry should take responsibility for investing in cultural mediators and educators to create the conditions for making prison time useful for people who Moreover, a large portion of foreigners detained in Sardinia did not commit the crime on the island but were transferred from the mainland. For these individuals, both men and women, ." "Reflection is needed," Caligaris concludes, "on the issues related to their management and integration. Very often, after completing their prison sentence, they are transferred to the the repatriation center, where they remain for months
