Callipo and Vibo Valentia Prison, 10 years of collaboration and 70 prisoners employed

Callipo celebrates 10 years of collaboration with Vibo Valentia Prison, established to offer prisoners an opportunity for training and work.

Started in 2016, this experience represents a concrete pathway to employment inclusion through which participants can acquire professional skills and look to the future with new perspectives.

The project

Since the project began, approximately 70 prisoners have been employed in total, with an average of 7 people involved each year, working on the packaging of Callipo's Christmas gift boxes. Participants are selected by the Prison Directorate from among the most deserving and are regularly employed by the company for a period of approximately two months. In the packaging department set up by Callipo inside the prison, 11.000 packages are produced each year.

From the outset, the collaboration was conceived as a training programme that combines work experience with the transmission of the values that distinguish Callipo: quality, tradition, respect, solidarity and trust. The company's staff also contribute to this experience, supporting and training prisoners in packaging activities while sharing their skills and professional expertise.

The comments

“I feel deeply connected to this project, as an entrepreneur but, above all, as a man. I strongly wanted it from the very beginning and, since then, I have chosen to experience it first-hand, spending several days inside the prison and working side by side with my ‘colleagues’ on the packaging of the gift boxes. In those moments, we are all part of the same team: we share the work, the responsibilities and a common goal. These are experiences that leave their mark, capable of giving me genuine emotions, renewed energy and, above all, an extraordinary lesson in humanity. Every time I leave those walls, I take something precious with me and the awareness that I have received far more than I have given. This is the greatest reward for the commitment and organisational efforts that a project of this kind requires from a company, but which find their full meaning in the human and social value it manages to generate,” comments Giacinto Callipo, member of the Board of Directors of Callipo Group.

The director of Vibo Valentia Prison, Angela Sciavicco, also underlines the value of the collaboration between the company and the prison institution: “Although I took up the position of director of Vibo Valentia Prison only recently, I immediately had the opportunity to appreciate the value of this commendable initiative, launched by the colleagues who preceded me and consolidated thanks to the commitment of my colleague Angela Marcello. It is a significant example of collaboration between the Prison Administration and the business community, which I hope can continue and be further strengthened. I believe it is essential for the prison institution to be open to the outside community, in the awareness that the rehabilitative purpose of a sentence also requires the active involvement of the local area. Work is one of the most important tools for encouraging prisoners to take responsibility and reintegrate into society, helping to prevent reoffending and, consequently, contributing to the safety of the community as a whole. I would therefore like to invite businesses in the area to consider this Directorate an interlocutor willing to develop new forms of collaboration, subject to the necessary organisational and security conditions. The incentives provided for by the so-called Smuraglia Law also represent an important opportunity to promote such initiatives”.

A new collection of gift ideas

On the occasion of the project's tenth anniversary, the new collection of gift ideas “Dreams in a box”, created by Frelly (Enrico Focarelli Barone), an artist and illustrator from Catanzaro, is launched. The collection is packaged by prisoners selected as part of the collaboration with Vibo Valentia Prison.

The meeting between the Callipo tradition and the artist's creative imagination gives rise to a story made up of emotions and evocative impressions. Seven new stories in which Frelly's illustrations evoke a suspended world, where the sea meets the sky and imagination intertwines with memories.

A collection that combines art, creativity and tradition: each package becomes more than a simple gift, but an object to be treasured that celebrates the value of collaboration, belonging and inclusion.

This article was translated from the original Italian version with the assistance of artificial intelligence. In case of discrepancies, please refer to the original Italian version.