Introduction

In this chapter the author describes how he came to write the book, starting from his first meetings in Trieste with psychiatrists who had studied under Franco Basaglia, the main promoter of the law (Law 180/833) that led to the closure of the Italian Forensic Psychiatric Hospitals. There he was introduced to concepts such as mad criminals, security measures and social dangerousness, and learned why many psychiatrists were concerned about the future of the inmates of these institutions. He comments on the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry that finally led to the closures and explains his decision to document this unique event in Italy’s psychiatric history. The chapter tells of his first visits to Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto and his encounters with Father Giuseppe Insana, the chaplain of the criminal psychiatric hospital and founder of the Casa di Solidarietà e Accoglienza, a halfway house for the inmates. He then explains how he collected the material for the book, how it is organized and the importance of creating a factual account of life in the criminal psychiatric hospitals as told by the inmates themselves.