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Italy moves to ease prison overcrowding

Italy's Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri estimates there will be 6,000 less people in Italian prisons now that a bill to ease overcrowding has been passed by the Italian government, La Stampa reported.

Published: 27 June 2013 14:16 CEST

Italy moves to ease prison overcrowding

Justice Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri said the bill would free-up 6,000 prison spaces. Photo: Controluce/AFP

The prisoners will be placed under house arrest or in therapeutic centres, but will not be freed, said Cancellieri. There will also be a reduction in pre-trial detention and alternatives to prison time for those who have committed minor offences.

The move comes in response to pressure from the European Court of Human Rights to address the problem of prison overcrowding by May 2014.

The bill also mandates that those who have reoffended, but for minor crimes, will be given alternatives to jail time, while severely ill people and mothers with sentences of under four years will be able to serve their time under house arrest.

Cancellieri told La Stampa she didn't understand what earlier reports that 'mobsters would be free to walk the streets' were founded upon. "It is not a measure of 'empty jails' in the classic sense. It is not for the benefit of those who have committed serious crimes," she said.

Cancellieri is hoping for an eventual prison amnesty.

Currently in Italy, there are only 45,000 prison places for a total of 66,000 detainees.

According to European law, each prisoner must have at least three square metres in his or her cell. Any space smaller than this is considered torture.

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Denmark announces plan to cut number of prison escapes

File photo: Johan Gadegaard/Midtjyske Medier/Ritzau Scanpix

An action plan from relevant authorities should help to ensure that far fewer escapes from correctional facilities take place in Denmark in the future, Minister of Justice Nick Hækkerup said to press on Wednesday.

Hækkerup is to ask the National Police, the Danish Prison Service (Kriminalforsorgen) and the public prosecution authority to provide recommendations and produce the plan in collaboration with health authorities.

“There have been too many prison escapes. Every time there is an escape from one of our prisons, detention centres or, as last week, from a psychiatric ward, it is a serious matter,” the minister said.

“It is totally unacceptable that we are seeing time and again that prisoners or detainees have succeeded in escaping,” he continued.

“It goes without saying that when a person is remanded in custody or serving a sentence, that person must be incarcerated, and unable to avoid this.

“It is part of our legal system that you have to take your punishment and serve it,” he said.

Last week, a prisoner escaped from a psychiatric ward in Slagelse in dramatic circumstances. Shots were fired at the floor during the escape operation, and hospital staff were threatened.

The episode is far from unique in Denmark. A 2018 Council of Europe report placed Denmark at number seven among its 47 member countries in relation to the number of escapes from open and closed prisons.

Denmark is in third place if the number of escapes from closed prisons only is considered.

“Every escape is one escape too many. But on the other hand, I think it would be too ambitious to think that we can get to a stage where there are no escapes at all,” Hækkerup said of his aims for the plan of action.

“But I am prepared to look at all options once the relevant authorities have provided their descriptions of the problem and what initiatives are needed. Because we need to stop prison breakouts,” Hækkerup said.

READ ALSO: Denmark makes two arrests over prisoner breakout at hospital

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