(Finance) – Transfer of minors and drug addicts to communities, measures to simplify early release and more phone calls granted to prisoners. The Minister of Justice, Carlo Northillustrated the contents of the decree law containing “Urgent measures in penitentiary matters, civil and criminal justice and personnel of the Ministry of Justice” approved today by the Council of Ministers, already renamed Empty Prisons decree. “The measure approved today is a vast and structural intervention that organically addresses another sector of the penal enforcement system – he explained during the meeting conference press which he held after the Council of Ministers –. This intervention is the result of a vision of the Meloni government, shared by our undersecretaries, which from the point of view of Justice is essentially oriented towards what we could call humanization prison“.
The minister stressed that it is the government’s will to “facilitate the transfer of detention from the brutality of the penitentiary institution to host community“https://www.Finance.it/DettaglioNews/231_2024-07-03_TLB/.”Always remaining firm that this is a detention regime, we transfer minors And drug addicts from prison to the community – he explained –. It is a very important step, it takes us a long way forward in social reintegration and it is a remedy for prison overcrowding”https://www.Finance.it/DettaglioNews/231_2024-07-03_TLB/.”Prison overcrowding – Nordio added – is not due to a government decision, it is the magistrate who decides on the status libertatis. And it is always up to the surveillance magistracy“.
In the Prison decree, the minister then underlined, “there are measures to make it easier liberation anticipated. There are no free indulgences but the procedure through which early release is carried out is made more certain. We will make the path and terms for enjoying early release very clear to the prisoner. There will be a sort of ‘pact‘ to immediately inform him of his rights and the discounts he could obtain if he behaves well in prison“.
The Minister of Justice then spoke about the possibility of increasing the contacts of prisoners with the outside. “The possibility of communicating in more flexible and greater terms with families will be a small psychological help which, together with the resources of psychological support for prisoners already put in place, will contribute, we hope, to making a situation psychologically easier which, being punitive, affects thehumor and the depression of the prisoner,” he explained. According to what the minister reported in a press conference, the measure provides for an increase in the number of phone calls from 4 to 6 per month with a further possibility of increase by the director for treatment purposes.
Minister Nordio then announced that the decree law provides for a one-year postponement of the entry into force of the Family Court. “We have supported the aspirations of the judiciary and the legal profession who complained about the lack of adequate financial coverage,” he explained.
The measure, as stated in a note from Palazzo Chigi, aims among other things to “strengthen the security, operation and efficiency of penitentiary institutions by hiring a thousand personnel from the Penitentiary Police Corps and by scrolling the rankings for the hiring of vice-inspectors and vice-commissioners of the Penitentiary Police”, to ensure the best operation of penal institutions, by increasing the number of personnel working in the penitentiary and juvenile sectors and ensuring a more effective reintegration of prisoners in society, including through the establishment of a list of structures residential suitable to the reception and social reintegration of those who have the requirements to access community penal measures, but who do not have a suitable domicile and are in insufficient socio-economic conditions to provide for their own sustenance.