Giuseppe Gradante Defends Castiglione OPG’s Dignity-Focused Care

The report presented in these pages by Mirella Castellano, concerning the poor management of drug-addicted inmates in Rebibbia prison, has generated significant attention. Giuseppe Gradante, chief and head of the female section of the OPG of Castiglione, reserved the right to make some distinctions regarding the psychologist’s stated cause.

Giuseppe Gradante’s Position

In the article published on April 20, Dr. Castellano lamented the poor treatment reserved for female inmates in the Rome prison, based on repressive and punitive criteria. She also denounced the bad practice of transferring those deemed problematic to the OPG, framing the psychological and emotional distress caused by conflicts experienced within family and environmental contexts as psychiatric illnesses.

She further added that after spending time at the psychiatric hospital in Castiglione, the inmates return to prison in a paradoxically worse condition, “losing,” according to the psychologist, “even human dignity.”

The differences of opinion

Giuseppe Gradante agrees that the reasons for transfers to the OPG are inappropriate but unequivocally disagrees with the psychologist’s considerations regarding the stay in the institute he manages. “It is primarily the safeguarding of human dignity,” Gradante states, “that guides the therapeutic methods of the center.”

Focusing on empathy and psychological support, the medical and nursing staff of the OPG, a shining example among Italian judicial hospitals, aims to restore the personal condition of the inmates. “The actual reality,” emphasizes Gradante, “is that the inmates themselves insist on staying in our institution, where they are guaranteed that human dignity denied in other settings.”

The facilities and services offered

Beyond the skills and professionalism of the operators, the forefront of the nesocomio is also upheld by the structures and services provided to the patients. The center director recalls the existence of recreational spaces such as a swimming pool, a tennis court, a volleyball court, and an art workshop, all designed to ensure the well-being of the detained women.