“No prison-emptying decree” but more humane detention facilities –

No prison-emptying decree, but more humane detention facilities. The Minister of Justice Carlo Nordio is clear on the objectives of the decree just approved by the Council of Ministers, and on the innovations related to the simplification of the procedures for the early release of prisoners, he underlines: «No free indulgence, nor automatic and linear reductions of sentence». In addition to the cut in bureaucracy for early release, the decree provides, among other things, an increase in telephone conversations with family members, the hiring of a thousand prison police officers and the creation of the so-called ‘Community Register’, composed of residential facilities, suitable for the reception and social reintegration of drug-addicted prisoners or those with mental health problems who have the requirements to access house arrest or community penal measures, but do not have a home or facility suitable for the purpose.

“The most crucial and important element of this reform concerns the measures of early release – explains the Minister of Justice – It is regarding making the procedure, which is already provided for by law and will not be touched in its terms, much quicker and more certain”. “Through a simplification and a series of clarifications of the current procedure – he continues – always entrusted to the supervisory judge, we will make the path and terms of early release very clear to the prisoner himself. Hitches of various kinds have often undermined the certainty of this path, we are making it much quicker, simpler and more effective. It is a pact that is made with the prisoner”.

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As for the establishment of the Community Register, “we want to facilitate the transfer of detention from the brutality of the penitentiary institute to the reception community – says Nordio – Always remaining firm that it is a detention regime, we transfer minors and drug addicts from prison to the community. It is a very important step, it takes us a long way forward in the humanization of punishment, in the re-education of the prisoner, in social reintegration and it is a remedy for prison overcrowding”. Finally, he warns: do not call it prison-emptying, it is an “improper and also anti-educational” word. “Our principle of guarantee is combined in two phases: emphasis on the presumption of innocence and certainty of punishment, or seriousness in its execution – he maintains – When a punishment is threatened by the State and imposed by the judge, then there can be no backtracking, a sign of sloppiness or weakness. This does not mean that the punishment must be, I will not say cruel, because that would be unconstitutional, but not even homogeneous, that is, always referred to imprisonment as we understand it”.