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Forty percent of the Italian prison population are awaiting trial (Photo: banspy)

Italy highlights problem in EU prisons

Last week, the Italian Senate announced it has approved a new law designed to tackle prison overcrowding and one of its main causes in the Italian justice system: the excessive and unjustified use of pre-trial detention.

Reports estimate that around 40 percent of the Italian prison population are awaiting trial, significantly higher than the EU average.

This has a knock-on effect for prison overcrowding, and many Italian prisons are running at around 150 percent capacity – a fa...

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The views expressed in this opinion piece are the author’s, not those of EUobserver

Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

Forty percent of the Italian prison population are awaiting trial (Photo: banspy)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver's foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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