Clare Pratt

During the spring of 1994 when I was on the probation team, I loved to go to the top of the Villa Lante garden to pray, looking over the rooftops of Rome to the mountains beyond Frascati. Much closer in my field of vision. was Regina Coeli prison, literally across the street from the Villa Lante, described in a recent article as "The Black Hole of Rome" its foreboding appearing to be devoid of human life other than the guards who walked back and forth along. the top of the walls and the occasional shouts when a goal was scored during a soccer game in one of the inner courtyards. At night, especially during the warm weather when our windows were open, I could hear the cries of loved ones --wives, sweethearts, friends, calling from the top of the Gianiculum hill with messages and words of comfort: (To read more about Clare ministry with the men of Regina Coeli prison, click on the link under her picture.)