Interprofessional Training Course for Prison Workers: “The Managing of a Help Relationship with People with Gender Identity Disorders in Prison”

A refreshment course for enhancing the quality of work of operators dealing with transsexuals/transgenders inmates will start on 16 May at the Sollicciano Prison in Florence. The course will be realised in the framework of a project implemented by NIHMP and funded by the Tuscany Penitentiary Administration Office - Italian Ministry of Justice.
Training beneficiaries are prison workers, health care operators and private volunteers; it provides three training sessions and a final event for the presentation of the results obtained.
The difficulty of working in prison can be accentuated when the penitentiary institute hosts people affected by psychological and social disorders.
The objective of the project is to train qualified operators able to manage possible complex situations that may occur when dealing whit transsexuals/transgenders.
Indeed, transgender people who may have experienced undocumented migration and social exclusion live a very complex situation that may lead to deep uneasiness, particularly during imprisonment.
Due to the particular life conditions in prison, characterised by continuous repetition of planned activities, reduction of spurs and limited spaces, to manage detainees is difficult and transsexual/transgender people require more particular attention. In this framework, preexisting psychological, health and social problems can be even accentuated by the difficulties met in prison and may become more difficult to manage. 
Therefore, the training project is aimed at providing knowledge and skills to prison workers for properly facing difficult situations and for working in strict collaboration with other professionals (security, re-education and health services, social organisations).
The training will be held by NIHMP experts, in collaboration with the Health Agency of Florence that has one centre in Sollicciano prison and the Service for balancing physical and psychical identity (S.A.I.F.I.P.) of the San Camillo-Forlanini Hospital in Rome and other private organisations committed with the support of transsexuals.

Project responsibles: Paola Scardella - Carmen Bertolazzi
Project collaborators: Francesca Vietti - Francesca Anello - Ieva Kajokaite