Sex and the prison. Sul diritto dei detenuti al 41-bis a ricevere riviste pornografiche

Drawing upon a recent judgment of the Italian Court of Cassation, the paper analyzes the right of inmates under «art. 41-bis» regime (so-called harsh-prison regime) to receive pornographic magazines while in detention. In the judgment, the Court denied any such right on the grounds of public security, i.e. the abstract danger of communication between the inmate and the external world. In a critical perspective, the article scrutinizes the implications of the Court’s position in terms of detainees’ fundamental rights. In particular, it is argued that such a status quo may infringe upon the right to sexual autonomy that the Italian Constitution guarantees to all persons, including prison inmates.