Opera Prison (officially Casa di reclusione di Milano-Opera) is a prison in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. It opened in 1987 and mainly holds prisoners with final sentences who have more than five years left to serve. In September 2026 it held 1,359 inmates against 918 official places.
Its unit for prisoners under the 41-bis regime is the second largest in Italy after the one in L'Aquila.
History
The prison opened in 1987. A bunker courtroom for organised crime trials was designed next to the prison in 1996, and construction began in 1999. In 2015 Il Giornale reported that more than €11 million had been spent on the building, which was still unfinished. A separate access road was never built because the land was never expropriated, so the courtroom could only be reached by passing through the prison. The Court of Audit had opened an inquiry into the loss of public money.
In July 2021, 25 years after the project began, the courtroom was still not in use. The Ministry of Justice had provided at least €12 million for it and had allocated a further €1.5 million.
Facilities
The cells were designed for one person each and now hold up to two. The prison has 818 rooms, 14 workshops, 23 classrooms, a theatre and two sports fields. Its first unit houses the high security sections and the section of the Progetto Vela treatment programme.
A new wing was planned to add about 400 places. In June 2022 it was almost finished but not yet open. In February 2026 the Ministry of Justice reported that the 392-place wing was undergoing final inspection before use.
Population and staff
On 19 September 2026 the prison held 1,359 inmates. Its official capacity was 918 places, 10 of which were unavailable. In July 2022 it held 1,241 inmates for 901 places, 316 of them foreign nationals.
At the end of August 2026 the prison had 541 officers of the Penitentiary Police out of 628 planned, and 17 educators out of 22.
High security and 41-bis unit
The prison holds prisoners linked to organised crime. At the time of a visit by the Italian criminal bar association in June 2022, 57 inmates were in the top high security category (AS1) and 189 in the AS3 category.
Opera has the second largest 41-bis unit in Italy. On 31 October 2022 it held 95 of the 728 prisoners under the regime nationwide, behind L'Aquila. On 9 November 2025 it held 99, while L'Aquila held 148 out of a national total of 726.
Healthcare
The prison has a medical unit for intensified care, known by the Italian acronym SAI, and healthcare is provided by the San Paolo hospital in Milan. In 2022 the criminal bar association found that only 11 of the 18 posts for ward doctors were filled. Psychiatric care was running at about half of the 450 hours a month it should have provided.
Work and education
In June 2022, 288 inmates worked for the prison administration and 55 for outside companies and cooperatives. In 2024 Il Giornale reported that more than 500 of the 1,300 inmates worked. One workshop assembled decoders and cables for Sky Italia, producing about 500,000 pieces a year, and the prison also ran a large bakery. A construction school opened inside the prison in 2023 under an agreement between the prison, the Milan builders' association and the trade unions. By May 2026 about 80 inmates had attended and 37 had been hired by building firms.
Secondary education is offered through technical and vocational schools. In 2024, 107 inmates were enrolled in university courses, 40 of them in the 41-bis unit.
Cultural and religious projects
Since 2008 the reading and writing workshop Leggere libera-mente has run in the prison. It started with three hours of reading a week and grew to 22 hours of workshops, involving more than 400 inmates over the years. Its magazine, In corso d'Opera, received the Ambrogino d'oro, the highest civic award of the city of Milan.
In 2016 the Fondazione Casa dello Spirito e delle Arti opened a workshop where inmates bake communion hosts for dioceses and religious communities. On 9 April 2016 three of its workers were received by Pope Francis and brought him more than 12,000 hosts. The same foundation runs a workshop where inmates make string instruments from the wood of migrant boats landed at Lampedusa. The first violin was played in the presence of Pope Francis on 4 February 2022. Fourteen instruments built at Opera were played at La Scala on 12 February 2024, with cellists Mario Brunello and Giovanni Sollima among the soloists. In January 2026 Riccardo Muti conducted the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra inside the prison, playing instruments made from the boats.
