An Inside Job

last updated 8 January 2015

Rome

Italy’s largest phone company has begun using prisoners as operators. Telecom Italia recently installed a call center in Rome’s Rebibbia jail, where inmates have been put to work answering directory-assistance queries. The company said it saw no security issues in giving convicted felons access to people’s phone numbers and addresses. “It helps the detainees get some work experience,” Telecom chairman Marco Tronchetti said. The prisoners welcomed the diversion. “This may seem like a boring, routine job,” said convicted Mafia member Salvatore Striano, “but for people who would otherwise spend the day sitting in our cells and doing nothing, it actually gives a sense to your life.”