The author hypothesizes that Italian unhealthy and unhygienic prison living conditions have been resilient to any reforms during last sixty years and notwithstanding any prison building programs they persist because of deeply rooted afflictive punishment culture permeating, on the one hand, society at large, on the other hand criminal justice system and correctional bu-reaucracy. In this context, the author outlines cultural elements revealing corporal punishment as real enduring sociological feature of detention, a mere social ritualized revenge still nowadays, when severe restriction of the detainees minimum vital space and afflictive living conditions have been resisting any reforming and prison building policies and attempts to reduce prison weight as a sanction have failed as well.
Keywords: Salute; carcere; sovraffollamento; pena; afflittività; riforma.