On September 17, Alberto*, a gay man who is HIV-positive and has cancer, could be sent to prison. Let's sign to save his life and defend his right to health.
Update – 17 September 2025: Today's hearing confirmed the measure already in place, and Alberto* will not be sent to prison. This is an important victory that we have achieved together. But the battle is not over: the request for clemency remains unchanged and we must continue to make our voices heard until it is granted. Together, we can guarantee Alberto* the right to health and a dignified life.
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In Italy, the Constitution is clear: health is a fundamental right, and no one should be denied the care they need to survive. Yet on September 17, Alberto* – a 40-year-old gay man living with advanced HIV and cancer – could be sent to prison, where his life would be in immediate danger.
Alberto’s case does not involve violence against anyone. He was convicted of a petty property crime. Still, he now faces incarceration that doctors have already described as “incompatible with detention”and carrying a “concrete risk to his life.”
Alberto currently lives under house arrest in the Piedmont region. His survival depends on life-saving treatment and specialized care available only at the Policlinico of Milan. Each transfer for treatment is already a bureaucratic obstacle course of permits and authorizations. Now everything is at risk of collapsing.
Medical experts have been unequivocal, yet procedures drag on. His formal request for a presidential pardon has been stalled on the desk of the President of the Republic for over a year.
In prison, Alberto would not only be cut off from essential medical care. As a gay man, he would face additional risks of abuse and violence. According to Antigone’s 2025 report “The Emergency is Now” (in Italian), Italy’s prisons are operating at 120% capacity, with dire shortages of medical staff and waiting times that make access to care for serious illnesses impossible.
Antigone’s research (here and here in Italian) also documents the extreme vulnerability of gay men in prison. To “protect” them from assaults, the prison administration often segregates them into so-called “protected sections,” frequently alongside sex offenders and other stigmatized detainees. This segregation, framed as security, leads to exclusion from reintegration programs, deeper isolation, and heightened stigma. Reports describe homophobic insults from prison staff and widespread prejudice, in an environment dominated by hyper-masculine violence that pushes many gay men to hide their identity to avoid harassment. For someone with Alberto’s fragile health, these factors pose an even greater threat to his survival.
This is not just the story of one man. It is the symptom of a penal system that punishes at any cost – even when the punishment becomes a death sentence. It is a matter of human rights, justice, and dignity.
Alberto himself calls it a “double sentence”: one handed down by the court, the other by illness. He describes moments of terror, suicidal thoughts, and hopeless diagnoses. “I’m not asking for clemency,” he says. “I’m asking to live.”
September 17 will decide everything. Our demand is simple: stop Alberto’s transfer to prison, guarantee his right to treatment, and immediately process his request for pardon.
*For reasons of safety and privacy, “Alberto” is a pseudonym.
