Associazione Antigone

Antigone, an association ''for rights and guarantees within the penal system'', was established at the end of the eighties in the wake of the review with the same name fighting against the emergency in question. It is a political-cultural association formed mainly by scholars, judges and prosecutors, penitentiary staff, members of parliament, teachers and citizens who for varying reasons are interested in criminal justice.

More specifically, Antigone promotes the following as part of its ordinary activities:
- papers, studies, research and debates on the model of criminal and procedural law in our country;
- collecting information on penitentiaries, both to steadily monitor the relation between law and enforcement and as a basis of information to raise awareness of prison-related issues. The national Observatory on penal judgment enforcement and detention conditions has been active since 1998. A report on Italian prisons is published every two years;
- the drafting of bills and devising of possible amendments of bills in the process of being approved;
- information and awareness-raising campaigns on specific topics or aspects relating to criminal justice and human rights, or at any rate concerning the improvement of the model of legal civilisation in our country;
- publication of books on rights and guarantees within the penal system.

The law of 1992 on the incompatibility between prison detention and AIDS and the bills to re-launch alternatives to detention, the decriminalisation of petty offences and the use of drugs, the pardon for former terrorists, the creation of the Authority for the rights of inmates, and the introduction of the offence of torture in the criminal code can all be ascribed to the actions undertaken by Antigone.

In the course of 1996 Antigone promoted and supported the appeals against the extradition of Pietro Venezia to the United States, which led to the passing of the constitutional judgment which prohibits extradition to countries and for offences for which there is the death penalty. Since 1992 Antigone is involved in the campaign "Never say never" to abolish life imprisonment.
A national reference point for the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), the association develops its action by making steady comparisons with the situation in other European countries.

Related links:
www.osservatorioantigone.it