Italy has approved a new law allowing thousands of inmates with drug or alcohol addictions to serve their sentences at home in an effort to alleviate severe overcrowding in the country’s prisons. The legislation was passed by the Italian parliament on Wednesday with 153 votes in favor, 42 against, and 82 abstentions.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni described the measure as a “victory on several fronts,” highlighting its dual goals of reducing the prison population and supporting the rehabilitation of addicted offenders. The government estimates that the law could apply to more than 10,000 prisoners affected by drug addiction, as well as approximately 3,700 inmates struggling with alcohol dependency, out of Italy’s total prison population of roughly 65,000.
The initiative is part of a broader effort by Ms. Meloni’s administration to tackle chronic overcrowding in Italian prisons. Although the government pledged last year to create 15,000 additional prison places, no new capacity has yet been added. The policy allowing home detention for addicted inmates is intended to ease immediate pressure on the penitentiary system.
The plan has drawn mixed reactions. Ms. Meloni’s right-wing coalition partners—including her own Brothers of Italy party, the anti-immigration League, and the center-right Forza Italia—supported the legislation. However, some right-wing rivals criticized the move as being too lenient on crime ahead of the general election scheduled for next year. Futuro Nazionale, a newly founded party led by former army general Roberto Vannacci, openly opposed the law, accusing Ms. Meloni of softening her stance on law and order issues. The populist Five Star Movement also voted against the measure, while many opposition parties abstained. Left-wing groups expressed conditional support but questioned whether the funding allocated for rehabilitation programs would be adequate.
Prisoners’ rights organization Antigone raised concerns about the effectiveness of the policy, noting that the release of inmates depends on several conditions and suggesting that current funding would only support fewer than 600 rehabilitation places, significantly less than the number of eligible prisoners.
Simonetta Matone, a League member of parliament, stressed that the intent of the law is not simply to reduce the prison population but to prevent reoffending by treating addiction as a root cause of criminal behavior.
Prison overcrowding is a challenge in other countries as well. For example, in Britain, early release measures intended to relieve crowded prisons have faced public backlash, leading to a government review of policies to exclude certain offenders from early release. While some additional capacity has recently become available in England and Wales, officials warn that prison space remains critically limited and could be fully exhausted by November if current early release schemes are altered.
Italy’s new law represents a significant step in addressing penitentiary overcrowding by shifting the focus from custodial sentences to rehabilitation for a specific subset of offenders, though its long-term impact will depend on implementation and available resources.