To mark the Jubilee, bags will be produced by women prisoners as part of the “Made in Carcere” (Made in Prison) Project

Bags made of waste material which will become Jubilee souvenirs … that’s the idea of the “Made in Carcere” Project. The project was founded in 2007 by Luciana Delle Donne, and its cooperative “Officina creativa” (Creative Workshop) gives a second chance to women prisoners in the southern Italian cities of Lecce and Trani, and gives a new life too to the fabrics used in the production process.

The women involved are offered a training course, with the aim of offering greater dignity to their life in prison and preparing them for work and social reintegration when they are released. They gain technical and professional skills which they use to work and earn a regular salary but, above all, build up their own awareness and self-esteem.

The bags which are produced will be on sale at the official Jubilee Info Point, at 7 via della Conciliazione, thanks to an agreement between the Cooperative and the Dicastery supported by the Airone Gifts group in the person of Vito Zorzi. Each product will carry the official logo of the Holy Year. The material used comes in part, from fabrics and objects recycled after the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, in 2016.

The initiative is an example of the "signs of hope" towards the most fragile and socially excluded people, requested by Pope Francis for the Jubilee Year in the Bull "Spes non confudit". To further underline the Pope's closeness to detainees, the Holy Father has chosen to open a Holy Door in the Rebibbia prison in Rome on December 26.