Italian jails most overcrowded in Europe says Council of Europe

(ANSA) - STRASBOURG, APR 8 - Italian jails are the most overcrowded in Europe, the Council of Europe said Thursday.
    At the end of January 2020 were were 120 inmates for every 100 beds in Italian prisons, the human rights body said in its annual Space report.
    By comparison, Belgium had 117 inmates per 100 places, France and Cyprus 116, Hungary and Romania 113, and Greece and Slovenia 109.
    Space chief rapporteur Marcelo Aebi said Italy could solve overcrowding in two ways: cutting prison terms and building more prisons.
    He said amnesties like one introduced in 2002 "do not solve the problem".
    Outside the EU but still within the CoE's ambit, Turkey was the worst with 127 prisoners per 100 places, and an average of 11 prisoners per cell compared to 1.9 in Italy.
    Italy is also the country with the most over-50s in its prison population, some 26% of the total.
    Italy has topped the CoE's European jail overcrowding charts for years. (ANSA).