Country

Italy

Detention issue

FRA research findings

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Legal instruments & key provisions

Legal instrument Key provision
Law No. 354/1975 (Legge 26 luglio 1975, n. 354, Norme sull’ordinamento penitenziario e sulla esecuzione delle misure privative e limitative della libertà)Foreign detainees have the right to ask for the consular authorities of their country to be informed of their arrest, to receive the extract of regulations in their own language, to make telephone calls and have interviews with the help of an interpreter. They have the right to satisfy their eating habits and their religious and spiritual needs. Foreign prisoners who have to serve a sentence, even a residual one, of less than two years have the right to be returned to their country of origin. With a criminal conviction, the security measure of return can be applied, which is carried out after the prison sentence has been served. In any case, a detainee who is at risk of persecution for racial, political, religious, gender, language, nationality, etc. reasons in their country of origin cannot be returned. Specific attention should be given by prisons’ administrations to the education of foreign detainees, especially in relation to Italian classes and classes on Italian constitutional principles. Foreign nationals without a regular residence permit must be enrolled by the detention facility’s authorities in the civil registries of the municipality where the facility is located.

NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM RECOMMENDATIONS

Year Recommendation Report
2022The National Guarantor issued an opinion addressing the DAP, Italian municipalities, Italian Regions, and ministerial authorities, denouncing that many foreign nationals –who are detained and who do not hold a regular residence permit – are not enrolled in local civil registries of the municipalities where the detention facility is located. This omission has a negative impact on the detainees’ rights: they cannot obtain an identity document, have access to measures alternative to detention, apply for assistance and social benefits once they have served their sentence. Moreover, the lack of identity documents represents – according to the National Guarantor – a crucial barrier to the regularisation of their stay in Italy. Report details