This paper examines the investigation conducted by Stefano Anastasia in Le pene e il carcere, delving into the political and economic causes that the Author identifies as underlying the transformations of penality over the past three decades through reference to the relationship between neoliberalism and authoritarianism. An attempt will be made to show that, contrary to what is normally believed, today's regressive populism is not so much the effect of the crisis of neoliberal hegemony, but rather a continuation of neoliberal policies, and that the use of penal policies as tools for managing the political and social anxiety created by the crisis can only increase, due to the difficulty of reaching a new compromise between capital and labor.
