Italy jail population down 12% in last yr - Antigone

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 11 - Italy's jail population fell 12% over the last year but it will still have to drop by 4-8,000 inmates to be within official capacity limits, prisoners rights' group Antigone said in its latest report on endemic overcrowding on Thursday.
    Overcrowding has changed from being "an objective condition of degrading treatment" to one of a health emergency due to COVID, the association said.
    Antigone, which has been monitoring prisoners' conditions since 1998, said prison numbers had fallen from 61,230 at the end of February last year to 53,697 at the end of the same month this year.
    This drop of 7,533 units corresponded to 12.3%, it said.
    Prison numbers have now fallen close to those of 2015, when they were cut to some 52,000 after several rulings against overcrowding by European courts.
    Antigone added that Italy's jails were short of 12.5% of warders and 18% of educators.
    Also, it said 851 of the inmates were above the age of 70.
    The group called for talks with authorities on introducing new alternatives to jail time and improving prison conditions while cutting overcrowding. (ANSA).