Fostering Emotional Growth and Empowerment in Youth Detention. The Case of The Statale at the BeKKa

The paper presents a case study of a theatre workshop at the “Cesare Beccaria” youth detention centre in Milan, which has been running since 2016. The initiative brings together detained minors and university students to collaboratively retell a Shakespearean play in light of the current Italian criminal justice system. The main aim of the workshop is to foster emotional intelligence and social inclusion through the transformative potential of participatory theatre. It explores the dynamics of collaboration, focusing on the development of key emotional and social skills such as empathy, conflict resolution and self-awareness. Drawing on participant feedback, it highlights the benefits of this interdisciplinary programme in a prison setting and offers recommendations for scaling similar initiatives in other youth detention facilities. This research demonstrates the potential of theatre to address the emotional and psychological needs of both young offenders and students. However, it argues that such initiatives can only empower participants if all those involved - whether minors in prison or on probation, students, directors, or educators - are provided with an environment in which they can fully engage in the artistic process, regardless of their intellectual and physical resources. The workshop and final performance also serve as a bridge between different social realities. However, the paper also acknowledges the challenges that boys in prison face on release, warning that the lack of supportive social conditions often undermines the long-term impact of the programme, leaving participants to confront the same systemic obstacles that led them to be imprisoned.