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The bagni penali
In force in nearly all states before the Unification of Italy, the hard labour for a set term or for life served in the penitentiaries was also introduced into the Kingdom of Italy prison legislation that continued to implement, until 1860, the old proclamations and regulations of the Bagni Penali of the Kingdom of Sardinia issued on 26 February 1926. The Bagni Penali sentence, though reminiscent of the old Roman galleys, now in name only since literally translated it means Penal Baths contains a vague reference to the ancient sentence to the galleys, provided for by Roman law as damnatio in opus publicum and introduced, in modern times, according to some sources, by Pope Paul II who, in July 1471, ordered the Rome Senate to send those found guilty of capital crimes to Genoa to work in the galleys. According to other sources, it appears to have been Charles V who introduced the sentence to the galleys in the Low Countries.
The galley sentence was applied both to those condemned to life and those sentenced to a set term of imprisonment, depending on the legislation in force in the various states. The convicts were allowed to go ashore periodically provided they were chained together in pairs. The term Bagni Penali referred to both the penitentiaries at sea and those on land, places where sentences to hard labour were served. Thus the Bagni Penali, according to naval tradition, continued to be administered by the Ministry of the Navy, both in the Kingdom of Sardinia and in the Kingdom of Italy. The Ministry of the Navy was also responsible for the prison staff. According to the 1859 Sardinian Penal Code the term Bagni Penali referred to the places where hard labour sentences were served, while the penitentiaries were for those condemned to confinement, relegation and imprisonment.
The usefulness of the Bagni Penali, both from the standpoint of the prisoner and from that of the work produced had already been questioned by illustrious jurists and prison experts, who claimed that these institutions were absolutely incompatible with the principles of the prison reform that the Kingdom of Italy was slowly developing. The difficult administration of the Bagni Penali, especially as regards discipline and internal security, drove the government to issue, through the Royal Decree of 19 December 1860, the new Regulations of the Bagni in Sardinia and on the mainland, which also contained the norms governing discipline and accounting. Royal Decree 3411 of 29 November 1866 (that came into force on 1 January 1867) established that the Bagni should come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior. From that date onwards the warders of the Bagni were replaced by prison guards, according to the means of enrolment established for ordinary penal institutions dependent on the Ministry of the Interior. The role of the staff of the Bagni Penali through the 1873 Regulations became the same as that of the prison guards. Meanwhile the government, following the experiments being carried out in other countries, gradually began to use the prisoners in the Bagni Penali to reclaim uncultivated, malarial and arid land. Little by little the Bagni Penali were closed and were definitively abolished by the 1891 Prison Regulations that introduced agricultural penal colonies, institutions that produced better results since the prisoners were employed in breaking up the land and farming. The first agricultural colony was established in 1858 on the island of Pianosa in the Tuscan archipelago and subsequently others were set up elsewhere on the mainland.
The use of chains in the Bagni Penali system
The 1860 Regulations governing Discipline and Internal Order in the Bagni Penali divided the prisoners into four categories, each distinguished by the colour of the strip of wool on their caps. The prisoners were chained together in pairs as already prescribed by the proclamations of 1826.
The length and weight of the chains were established as follows:
1st category: chain of 6 links weighing 1.3 kg
2nd category: chain of 9 links weighing 1.7 kg
3rd category: chain of 9 links weighing 1.9 kg
Chains of 18 links weighing 6 kg were used for new arrivals and inveterate criminals. The new disciplinary regulations governing the Bagni in Royal Decree 1328 of 7 March 1878, though not providing for the notorious corporal punishments contained in the proclamations of 1826, contained a strict disciplinary system based on the use of irons and solitary confinement.
The weight of the chains was established in detail in circular 173 of 26 April 1876 issued by the Ministry of the Interior: The weight of the chain that every prisoner must wear attached to his left ankle according to article 22 of the regulations approved by Royal Decree 4328 of 7 March 1878, includes the weight of the shackle, since this is an integral part of the aforesaid chain. Moreover, when in doubt, the dispositions concerning sentences restricting personal freedom, must always be interpreted in the most favourable way.
The use of chains, maintained for former prisoners sentenced to hard labour, was subsequently limited and regulated by article 885 of the general 1891 Prison Regulations and definitively abolished by Royal Decree 377 of 2 August 1902.
