From September to November 2023, inmates increased by 1,688. In the previous quarter, 1,198, in the one before that, 911. During 2022, growth of more than 400 units per quarter was rarely recorded. Compared to 51,272 places officially available (in reality there are around 3 thousand fewer), there were 60,116 people detained on 30 November. In short, not only is the prison population growing, but it is growing more and more. «The increase in the prison population is a constant in our system. The number of inmates in Italian prisons always increases, except when extraordinary measures are taken to reverse the trend. Then when the extraordinary measures end, growth starts again”, he says Alessio Scandurracoordinator of the observatory on prison conditions for the association Antigone.
«The point is that this growth has undergone a notable acceleration in the last year. On the other hand, not only has the government not put in place measures to limit or contain it, but rather it has introduced new crimes, it has adopted measures such that it is normal for the numbers to grow. Attendance exceeded 60,000 at the end of November (the data for the end of December is not yet available), with a continuously growing trend, especially in the last few months”, continues Scandurra. «In one yearwhen we go to take stock of 2024, if the prison population continues to grow at the current rate, there will be over 67 thousand prisoners in prison, as in 2013, at the time of the condemnation by the European Court of Human Rights for the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights , ECHR. Which means one unlivable condition for the inmate population and for those who work there in prison. Also, probably all the classic indicators, such as suicides, self-harm, conflicts, revolts, risk increasing and accentuating. It’s a situation of great alarm some symptoms of which are starting to be seen, such as the recent revolts by prisoners in prison. It’s a fairly open situation.”
Alessio Scandurracoordinator of the conditions observatory
of detention – Antigone
«In the face of an emergency, the fact that weighs down the climate is that there is no perception that responses to this emergency are being put in place. The government is probably making the mistake of thinking that we are in a manageable situation, I hope so but I fear that this is not the case. So some extraordinary measures will have to be thought of. Some measures that have been designed serve to tighten the internal climate, such as the introduction of the new crime in the event of protest or revolt in prison by prisoners.”
The Council of Ministers approved three bills that make up the new security package. The crime of “revolt in prison” is envisaged for those who “use acts of violence or threats”, with a sentence equivalent to that of those who practice “resistance, even passive, to the execution of the orders given”. ». «There is always this idea that, with punishments, you change reality. It is not so. Among other things, an important portion of the detained population does not have much to lose, they are not rational actors who make cost-benefit calculations, otherwise they would not be in prison”, continues Scandurra. “A purely punitive response may have an impact on a small part of the prison population, but I fear that this impact will not have an impact on the large majority.”
In a year’s time the attendance will exceed 67 thousand, as in 2013, at the time of the condemnation by the European Court of Human Rights for the violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Of the over 60 thousand prisoners, 2,549 are women, 4.2% of those present, while there are 18,868 foreigners, 31.4% of those present. The average official crowding rate is today 117.2%, but compared to this value in Puglia it is now at 153.7% (4,475 prisoners in 2,912 places), in Lombardy at 142% (8,733 prisoners in 6,152 places) and in Veneto at 133.6% (2,602 prisoners in 1,947 places). The situation in many institutions is very serious. In Brescia Canton Monbello crowding is now at 200%, in Foggia at 190%, in Como at 186% and in Taranto at 180%.
The officially available detention spaces have gone from 50,228 at the end of 2016 to the current 51,272: 1,000 more detention places compared to a growth in the prison population in the same period of 5,463 units, despite each government in the meantime announcing the construction of new prisons.
But the space available to prisoners is decreasing. In the 76 prisons visited by the Antigone Observatory in the last 12 months in 25 institutions (33%), there were cells in which three walkable square meters were guaranteed for each person detained. It is no coincidence that the number of appeals from people complaining of having been detained in conditions that violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and which are accepted by the Italian supervisory courts, has been constantly increasing since the end of the pandemic: there were 3,382 in 2020, 4,212 in 2021 and 4,514 in 2022. But the space also decreases in absolute terms given that, following a 2022 circular, there are more and more prison departments in which a closed cell regime is applied and, therefore, during the day the inmates remain closed in their cells.
The average official crowding rate is today 117.2%, but compared to this value in Puglia it is now at 153.7%, in Lombardy at 142% and in Veneto at 133.6%
«Psychological distress and drug addiction are all indicators of a context in which, once the basic material and liveability conditions degenerate, it is obvious that the climate and the situation also degenerate. This seems to me to be a very worrying picture which it seems to me that politicians prefer not to take note of, hoping that we can continue not to notice it for as long as possible. When the sentence from the European Court of Human Rights arrived in 2013, they “fell over the fence” but in reality everything was there for everyone to see. After the conviction, they took measures that they could have taken a year earlier, without resulting in the conviction. The evidence is not in itself sufficient to set things in motion”, continues Scandurra.
Choose the magazine
of social innovation
Support VITA and help
support our mission
«We are heading towards an alarming scenario that prison institutions and operators will try to manage as best they can, but clearly resources are limited, both in terms of opportunities and responses that can be provided to people’s needs, and in terms of spaces.. With the Pnrr, interventions have been allocated that are so long-term, that they had already been financed before, they were on items in the budget of the Ministry of Justice, then they were transferred from there to the Pnrr: they are interventions of ordinary management of the system, they don’t have much that’s extraordinary. Putting them all together,” he says, “wouldn’t change the situation much, even if they were completed tomorrow. Given that history has taught us that responses are just a somewhat cowardly way of throwing the ball into the stands, even a concrete and immediate response would never be able to be timely enough to deal with the current emergency.” With a restructuring plan, thanks to Pnrr funds, 21 interventions have been released for a total of 166 million euros.
In 10.5% of the institutes visited, not all cells were heated and in 60.5% there were cells where hot water was not guaranteed throughout the day and at any time of the year. In 53.9% there were cells without showers and in 34.2% there were no spaces for processing
In the 76 prisons visited by Antigone in the last 12 months, 31.4% were built before 1940, most of these even before 1900. In 10.5% of the institutes visited, not all cells were heated and in 60.5% there were cells where hot water was not guaranteed throughout the day and at any time of the year. In 53.9% of the institutes visited there were cells without showers and in 34.2% of the institutes visited there were no spaces for processing. In 25% of the institutes there is no gym or it is not functioning and in 22.4% there is no sports field or it is not functioninge.
As regards staff, the legal-pedagogical officials (educators) have decreased, they were on average one for every 87 prisoners in 2022, they became one for every 76 prisoners in 2023. But the numbers remain completely inadequate in relation to attendance. Instead, as regards prison police personnel, there was a decline: on average there was one officer for every 1.7 prisoners in 2022, last year it was one for every 1.9 prisoners. «If attendance decreases, all the resources, which are already few, become even more inadequate, including healthcare personnel. Among other things, this also has a multiplier effect,” explains Scandurra. «The majority of people detained in prison return there, which means that the underlying problems that led to their arrest have not been resolved: it is clear that the more unsuccessful the reintegration paths are, the more the recidivism rate increases and this creates crowding. Having fewer resources in relation to the population means offering fewer reintegration paths and a recidivism rate that continues to grow.”
Last year, 68 people took their own lives in prison. The average age was 40 years old, 15 of them were no more than 30 years old
«The effort must be in this direction. On the one hand we have a system of alternative measures that works well, we need to start strengthening it. On the other hand, we must bear in mind that we will still have tens of thousands of people in prison who must be offered paths that prevent them from returning to prison.. This must be the effort of the penitentiary system, and not only that: schools in prison are guaranteed by the Ministry of Education and Merit, healthcare is guaranteed by the Ministry of Health, professional training is provided by local authorities with training agencies. Prison is a container, we all put the contents there, after all: it must be everyone’s commitment to guarantee and make available to the community what is needed and that the law requires that this be done in prison”, continues Scandurra. «As long as the prison is unable to guarantee the basic needs of the inmate population, i.e. the material conditions of detention, the right to care and health, it becomes difficult to discuss everything else. The daily work of those who work in prisons is often chasing low-profile emergencies, to ensure that a prison remains standing, that it doesn’t flood. It is clear that in a context of this type, a whole series of other activities, provided for by law, are not present to a degree that guarantees the fight against recidivism”.
For every 100 prisoners: 16.3 acts of self-harm, 2.3 attempted suicides, 2.3 assaults against staff and 4.6 assaults against other prisoners
Photo LaPresse – Massimo Paolone