State of emergency in Italian prisons
Government unveils four-point plan to tackle overcrowding
13 January, 16:46
(ANSA) - Rome, January 13 - The Italian government
on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in the country's
prison and approved a four-point plan by Justice Minister
Angelino Alfano to address the critical levels of overcrowding.
''The project we're preparing for is without precedent in
the history of this Republic,'' Alfano said during a joint press
conference with Premier Silvio Berlusconi.''We're going to eliminate prison overcrowding once and for all without resorting to another round of amnesties''.
Alfano said first on the agenda were the construction of 47 new annexes to boost the system's capacity by 21,749.
He said the new cell blocks would cost a total 600 million euros and follow in the footsteps of the rebuilding effort in earthquake-struck city of L'Aquila with construction crews working in round-the-clock shifts.
''This is the same scheme that has allowed us to put a roof over the head of everyone who lost their home (in the April 2009 quake),'' he said.
Between 2011 and 2012, Alfano said the government would launch a second campaign to build brand-new prisons to accommodate a total of 80,000 inmates, almost twice its current capacity.
To depressurize jails in the meantime, the justice minister promised new legislation allowing home detention for inmates with less than one year to serve on their sentence and probation with community service for anyone sentenced to less than three.
Finally, the justice minister promised to hire some 2,000 new guards needed to oversee Italy's swelling prison population, which hit a post-war high last year of over 65,000.
Italy's ageing jails, most of which were built in the 19th century, were only designed to accommodate 43,000.
Experts have blamed the overcrowding for a record 71 prison suicides in 2009 and another four in the first week of January.
''It's an intolerable situation,'' lamented Berlusconi. ''A civilized state can take freedom away from a person who commits a crime, but it cannot take away his dignity or undermine his health,'' he said.
''We've taken it upon ourselves to find a lasting solution,'' he said, an oblique reference to an overwhelmingly unpopular prisoner amnesty enacted in 2006 under ex-premier Romano Prodi's center-left government.
But minority whip of the small Italy of Values party, Massimo Donadi, called the government's plan a ''sham''.
''There are over 20,000 inmates with less than a year to go on their sentences. It will be extremely difficult to keep tabs on them if you let them all out together,'' he said.
Moreover, Donadi said there was ''no justification for spending millions of euros on new prisons given that there are already 40 or more half-built or completed, which have never been used".
