17,000 claims for compensation from prisoners have been accepted over the past three years
The questions concern living conditions in prisons. Prisoners are entitled to 8 euros a day in compensation or a reduction in their sentence
Key points
Returning now – though this is a recurring theme – to the issue of civil liability of judges, or at any rate of compensation for parties unjustly involved in criminal proceedings, other forms of redress bear witness to the crisis in our criminal justice system. The trend in applications for the compensation remedies provided for under Article 35-ter of the Prison Act – introduced in the wake of the now proverbial Torreggiani judgement, by which, in 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Italy for the unliveable conditions in which too many people were serving their sentences.
The 1975 decree
The regulatory capacity is calculated in accordance with the Ministerial Decree on Health of 5 July 1975: 9 square metres for the first prisoner and 5 square metres for each subsequent prisoner. In 2014, the Space/Prisoners Application (Asd) was introduced, an IT tool designed to monitor in real time both the number of prisoners present in each institution and their specific location, as well as the available space for each person. Hence the recurring need to move prisoners from institutions facing the most critical situations.
Thus, in response to a parliamentary question from Roberto Giachetti, an Italia Viva MP, the Ministry of Justice has provided figures for the last three years, which show a twofold increase in both the number of applications and the number of approvals. In detail, for 2023, there were 9,574 applications, with 4,731 granted and 1,143 rejected; for 2024, there were 11,440 applications, with 5,837 granted and 1,829 rejected; for 2025, there were 11,900 applications, with 6,539 approvals and 1,704 rejections.
Remedies and complaints
The remedy for compensation available to prisoners who have suffered inhuman and degrading treatment provides for a reduction in their sentence: one day for every ten days of harm suffered. Those who have already served their sentence or suffered the harm whilst in pre-trial detention may claim civil compensation of 8 euros per day.
The Ministry has also released figures on appeals against decisions by the supervisory judiciary: for the year 2023, there were 949 new cases, 960 completed proceedings, 159 upheld appeals and 583 rejections, as well as 218 decisions of inadmissibility or lack of grounds for proceedings; for the year 2024, there were 937 new cases, 1,008 cases concluded, 135 upheld, 643 dismissed and 230 decisions of inadmissibility or lack of grounds for proceedings; for the year 2025, there were 810 new cases, 914 cases concluded, 179 upheld, 525 rejected and 210 decisions of inadmissibility or lack of grounds for proceedings.
