Abstract

This article is based on an ethnographic research in the prisons of the Triveneto region. By focusing in particular on the prison in Padua, it analyzes the construction of migrant «otherness» within the prisoner community and the detention space. Taking into consideration the spatial organization of this prison, it proposes a parallel between prison life and urban space. First, the article describes the process of construction of migrants' otherness within the prisoner community; second, it analyses the relationship between the spatial dimension and ethnicization processes within the prison. Finally, the article takes into consideration the role played by such processes of ethnicization in the cohesion of prisoner community.