Letters from Prison

During the period of internal exile in Ustica, Gramsci was able to write without limitations (letters 4-16). For the subsequent period, the presence and frequency of the letters are conditioned by prison regulations. After the arrest warrant issued on January 14, 1927, by the Military Tribunal of Milan, Gramsci was transferred to the judicial prisons of that city, where he was allowed to write two letters per week (cf. letters 21 and 112). For the trial, he was transferred in May 1928 to the Regina Coeli prison in Rome (cf. letter 100). Sentenced to twenty years, four months, and five days, he was assigned to the Special Penal House of Turi (letters 102-375), where he could write only to family members: at first (July 1928-July 1931) only every fifteen days, subsequently every week. As a consequence of these limitations, Gramsci often included letters directed to various family members in one envelope, and sometimes wrote them on the same sheet of paper. Transferred for health reasons to Doctor Cusumano’s clinic in Formia (November 1933), he awaited the transfer order to the infirmary of the penitentiary of Civitavecchia (letters 376-78). In Formia, Gramsci was assisted by Carlo and by Tatiana, who lived in Rome, and for this reason, the letters addressed to her became sparse (letters 379-83). Finally, he was able to write freely from the "Quisisana" clinic in Rome, enjoying conditional release from the autumn of 1934 (letters 384-428, among which, however, some undated ones are perhaps earlier).

Starting from his assignment to the Judicial Prison of Milan, the letters were written on paper bearing the stamp: "Correspondence" and the date, which Gramsci took care not to cover with his writing. Once delivered to the office, the letters were stamped again: a round stamp with the Savoy coat of arms, surrounded by the words "Military Tribunal of Milan. Investigative Office," which sometimes makes it difficult to read some words. Likewise, in Turi, the paper often bore the round stamp with the Savoy coat of arms surrounded by the words "Special Penal House of Turi" (variant: "Penal House for the physically and mentally disabled. Turi (Bari)"). Often a stamp warns: "Packages with food items are not accepted