Prisoners and pilgrims

“Thank you for what you are doing, a huge thing!” Receiving this message from the mayor of Nuoro Emiliano Fenu, the day after the conclusion of the initiative that saw us Bonaria volunteers walk together with the inmates of Mamone and Badu ‘e Carros, made me reflect and confirmed that we are carrying out a really important project.

The Bonaria Walk passes through small towns and places of poignant beauty, but it also passes by places of suffering: the penal colony of Mamone, the prison of Badu ‘e Carros in Nuoro, and the juvenile prison of Quartucciu, on the outskirts of Cagliari.

When we designed the walk we had a few fixed points in mind, namely to create an accessible, inclusive route, open to everyone: adults, kids, sportsmen and women and non-sportsmen. Therefore, we designed a balanced itinerary, capable of welcoming. During the construction of the path, however, we realized that there were places not directly crossed by the route that, in some way, asked us to stop. They were the places of suffering, those where deprivation of freedom is experienced: prisons and communities for people in distressed situations. Places that society often considers strangers, to be relegated as far away as possible. We, on the other hand, have decided to try to break down that barrier, entering into a relationship with these realities and recognizing their need to be heard and to have a future, with a view to returning to ordinary life once the sentence has been served.

So we went into correctional institutions to tell about our project. Then we returned to share the concrete experience of walking and the emotions it arouses. It was not easy to talk about freedom – about that lightness you feel when walking – inside armored facilities. I remember the silence of the first meetings and the stares of the inmates: I could not tell if they were expressing curiosity, anger or nostalgia. I measured every word for fear of hurting someone. Then I realized that those people mostly wanted to talk, to build a bridge between their experience and our journey. And, slowly, that bridge took shape.

Badu ‘e Carros inmates joined the project by making directional signs to be placed along the route: signs pointing the way for pilgrims. A powerful image: the prison pointing a direction, and therefore also a possibility of life. Those arrows can be found today in the city of Nuoro, in front of the Quartucciu prison and at other stops. In this way Mamone, Badu ‘e Carros and the juvenile institution, created a human and symbolic connection, going beyond restrictions and social distances. Then something extraordinary happened: for the first time the inmates of these facilities walked together. Together with each other and with us volunteers from the Bonaria Walk and the other associations involved. We started from the penal colony of Mamone and, in three days, we walked the central stages of the walk until we reached Nuoro and then the prison. One of the most intense moments was entering the city: those inmates that no one knows and that many prefer to ignore crossed the streets with us, breaking the idea that prison should only isolate and erase people.

The Way of Bonaria has tried to propose a different look. While respecting the rules of the rule of law and the spirit of the Constitution, which also assigns to punishment a re-educational function, the Way, together with other voluntary associations, has opened a space of hope. Not only for those who live in prison, but also for those on the outside, who are called to reflect on the fact that every person can make mistakes and that no one should be reduced to their mistake. We wanted to testify that those in prison are not “jail leftovers,” but remain people, even when they have committed serious crimes.

Walking together also meant reaffirming the value of rules, in and out of prison. In order to grow and reach our goal, we must always have them in mind. The first rule is respect for the people who walk beside us, the places we walk through and those who welcome us. The rule that becomes a value. The value of welcoming based on respect.

This is the big bet of the Bonaria Walk, but also the biggest lesson we volunteers have received from the inmates of Mamone, Badu ‘e Carros and the boys of Quartucciu: if you believe in a path, change is always possible.

Antonello Menne – President of the Association Il Cammino di Bonaria