Not every publication is allowed into Italy’s high-security 41-bis prison units, even when it arrives through authorized channels. Scarpe e Sport, a niche magazine offering advice on buying shoes and sportswear, does not qualify under prison regulations as a publication necessary to safeguard inmates’ right to information. In short, it is something they can easily do without.

That is the ruling by Italy’s Court of Cassation in a case stemming from the prison in Novara. The appeal was filed several months ago, before the prison’s 41-bis unit was dismantled and inmates convicted of mafia-related crimes were transferred to Vigevano.

The case concerns Roberto Sinesi, a 63-year-old crime boss who once held a leading position in the Società Foggiana, a criminal organization based in the Foggia area. He is serving a 20-year sentence for mafia-related crimes, extortion and weapons offenses.

Potential Messages From the Outside

Last year, while being held under the 41-bis regime at the prison on Via Sforzesca in Novara, Sinesi asked the local prison surveillance judge for permission to purchase Scarpe e Sport.

He received a flat refusal. The judge ruled that the magazine was not necessary to protect any specific rights and that its classified ads — a regular feature — could be used to relay messages from the outside or exchange information with members of Sinesi’s criminal group in ways that would be difficult to monitor.

Shortly afterward, however, the Turin prison surveillance court granted Sinesi’s appeal and ordered prison officials to allow him to buy the magazine, subject to the screening and censorship procedures applicable to material intended for inmates held under the 41-bis regime.

The Justice Ministry appealed to the Court of Cassation, which ultimately overturned that authorization, upholding the reasoning of the Novara judge.

Allowing the magazine into the prison, the court concluded, could potentially open a channel of communication with the outside world. That risk was not justified by any specific rights that the magazine would serve to protect, since the publication did not meet a stated need for information, study or preparation.