Spending just a few minutes inside a simulated prison cell may help reduce prejudice against incarcerated people by increasing empathy, according to new research from the University of Milan-Bicocca's Department of Psychology.

The researchers set out to explore whether immersive experiences - either through virtual reality or a physical reconstruction of a prison cell - could help participants better understand the psychological effects of imprisonment, particularly the feeling of social exclusion.

"Our goal was not to recreate prison life realistically," the researchers explained. "Instead, we wanted to examine whether a brief, controlled experience inside a simulated prison cell could trigger one of the most significant psychological aspects of detention: feeling excluded from society."

The first study involved 138 participants who spent several minutes inside either a virtual prison cell or a virtual studio apartment using VR headsets. A second study included 93 participants who entered Extrema Ratio, a full-scale reconstruction of an eight-square-metre prison cell based on a real cell at Milan's San Vittore prison.

The installation, created to mark the tenth anniversary of the University of Milan-Bicocca's Prison Education Programme, was built with authentic furnishings by inmates working in the carpentry workshop at Bollate Prison, in collaboration with Caritas Ambrosiana.

Researchers found that both the virtual and physical prison cells increased participants' feelings of social exclusion. That experience was associated with greater empathy toward incarcerated people, particularly emotional empathy, which in turn was linked to lower levels of prejudice.

Although the physical reconstruction produced stronger emotional responses in some areas, the virtual reality experience generated similar overall results, suggesting that VR could become an effective and scalable tool for education, research and public awareness initiatives focused on social exclusion, stigma and rehabilitation.