MILAN — The 5-year-old boy chased his father around the concrete soccer court, his feathery hair falling over his eyes. Around them the shouts and squeals of other children and the shrill whistles of a referee created a hyperkinetic cacophony reminiscent of any playground.
In this moment, it felt almost possible — almost — to forget the metal bars on the windows of the spartan room, to ignore the guards keeping silent watch, and to experience, briefly, the illusion of freedom.
The father, Sebastiano Russo, 45, has been incarcerated at Opera prison, a maximum-security facility here on the outskirts of Milan, since 2015, a circumstance his young son does not fully comprehend.