Separate to punish

In 1849, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany established the buona compagnia (good company) system, to confine convicts according to the principles of continuous segregation. Similar to foreign experiments with separate systems, it was presented as a milder version of Philadelphia’s solitary confinement. The adoption of the buona compagnia was a turning point in a broader campaign of prison reform that completely redefined the penal spaces and living conditions of Tuscan prisoners. Through a case study of the reconstruction of fortress of Volterra, this article examines the role that various protagonists played in shaping the trajectory of Tuscan penal reform. Starting in the 1830s, a series of renovations modified the fortress’s interior layout, making it the best place to experiment with new systems of segregation and new punishments. By employing the analytical concept “punitive regimes,” this article analyses the spatial dimensions of the fortress in order to show the relationship between the reform and the punitive spaces.