Legality and social inclusion through specialised work and training are the pillars of a project developed by Webuild with the Dipartimento Amministrazione Penitenziaria (DAP) of the Italian Ministry of Justice to train and reintroduce former prisoners into full-time employment. The first application of the project is taking place at one of the construction sites of the Naples-Bari High-Speed railway line, thanks to the collaboration with the Provveditorato of Campania.

The project follows the collaboration between Webuild, and the Ministry of Justice, which started in 2023, with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding, to give a new opportunity to selected prisoners who will start a tangible social reinsertion path through work.

Gianfranco Marcello, director of Benevento Prison, in thanking the Pedagogical Legal Officers of the Institute and the Webuild staff for the results reached, highlighted that the work opportunity offered is highly professional and is not paid for by public funds (except for the general decontribution of the Smuraglia Law), representing, therefore, a constructive exception in the scenario of prison work in the Campania Region.

Casa Circondariale of Benevento

The first operating phase of the project, which foresees hiring approximately 10 people, started from the Casa Circondariale of Benevento. Following a selection carried out with the DAP and the work agency Randstad, the first four candidates were identified, who within the "Cantiere Lavoro Italia" programme, Webuild's training and occupational path, freely offered by the Group, have the chance of gain professional qualifications, and to safely work in the Group's construction sites.

Participants, after completing the "Territorial School", a pre-hiring training path provided directly inside the prison environment, have then taken part in the "Trade School" training centre, an intensive training path that was provided within the joint entity body that deals with training workers in the FORMEDIL Avellino, Atripalda (AV) construction compartment.

Once trained, participants were hired and started working in the Apice-Hirpinia lot being built along the Naples-Bari High-Speed/High-Capacity railway line, commissioned by RFI (FS Italiane Group), a strategic mobility infrastructure for the whole of the South of Italy.

The Naples-Bari route

The Webuild Group along the Naples-Bari route is building four lots: Naples-Cancello, Apice-Hirpinia, Hirpinia-Orsara and Orsara-Bovino, with approximately 2300 people involved as of today (direct and third-party personnel), and with approximately 2500 supply chain companies since works began.

The project is already becoming bigger through the Casa Circondariale of Ariano Irpino (Avellino), where selection interviews are taking place for five new participants destined to be included within the Hirpinia-Orsara lot in the Province of Avellino, a central section of the Naples-Bari route.

The project is one of the many training and hiring initiatives developed by Webuild to meet the growing demand for qualified technical staff, especially workers and technicians, registered in the sector.