Justice

Government, Council of Ministers green light for prison plan

A 'just' state must 'adjust the capacity of prisons to the number of people who have to serve a sentence. So, finally, certainty of punishment,' commented Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni

by Rome Editorial Staff

22 July 2025

Il ministro della Giustizia Carlo Nordio (Photo by Roberto Monaldo / LaPresse)

5' min read

Key points

Nordio: differentiated detention for drug addicts
Mit, € 335 million of work and 2,500 extra posts
Tajani: Forza Italia is for emptying prisons, it is the government's chosen line
European Delegation Bill 2025 tabled
A vademecum for dealing with cyber attacks

5' min read

Green light from the government for the action plan for the prison emergency. "Today in the Council of Ministers we launched an extraordinary plan of action that will give us, with works in the pipeline already today and with the end of the works in 2027, about 10 thousand new prison places, with a total investment of more than 750 million euro. We are working to add another 5,000 places so as to close the entire gap between the number of places available and the number of prisoners," said Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in a video on social media, commenting on the decisions taken today by the Council of Ministers on prisons. "In other words," she continued, "previously crimes were adjusted to the number of places available in prisons. We believe, vice versa, that a just state must adjust the capacity of prisons to the number of people who have to serve a sentence. So, finally, certainty of punishment'.

It starts, therefore, with the prison building plan 2025-2027 with the goal of recovering and creating 15,000 prison places. "The first 9,696 places will be divided into 1,472 in 2025, in 2026 there will be 5,914, in 2027 there will be 2,310, for a total financial requirement of 758 million euros. A further five thousand places can be realised over a five-year period through the intervention line on the valorisation and transformation of a number of existing penitentiary institutes. This overall intervention will make it possible to reach the target of 15 thousand missing places," according to what was assured bythe extraordinary commissioner for prison buildings, Marco Doglio, in a press conference after the Cdm.

Nordio: differentiated detention for drug addicts

"For drug addicts, differentiated detention outside prison is envisaged under certain conditions. In addition, we intend to speed up procedures for those eligible for early release. In order to improve prison conditions, we have introduced a change in telephone contacts, and we have also carried out a minor revision of judicial districts'. Illustrating the main measures contained in the bill approved at Palazzo Chigi is the Minister of Justice, Carlo Nordio. "The solution to the problem of overcrowding in prisons is a priority for us," Nordio stressed, "but it is a problem that cannot be solved with a magic wand because it has settled over the decades. The important thing, added the Guardasigilli, is not to intervene with an 'unconditional release that would sound like a surrender on the part of the state'.

The buzzword is 'recovery of drug addicts', and Nordio specifies that differentiated detention will take place 'in certified community facilities' and that 'the condition for differentiated treatment is that one must not have committed crimes of a certain gravity. These provisions do not apply to those who have committed heinous crimes such as rape or armed robbery. Differential treatment is provided for so-called minor offences, such as theft, mugging or housebreaking'.

Mit, €335 million of work and 2,500 more jobs

"The government's prison plan has also become a reality thanks to the commitment of the MIT, which has allocated 335 million euro: this will make it possible to create more than 2,500 new places in penal institutions by the first months of 2027. This is a significant result, strongly desired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Matteo Salvini," underlines a Mit note. "Particularly significant - the MIT highlights - are the maintenance work on the Forlì Prison and the construction of the San Vito al Tagliamento Prison, which represents the creation of a new penitentiary institute after a good 14 years since the last construction of a prison on the entire national territory.The list of prison places also includes 85 places for the juvenile sector at the IPMs of Casal del Marmo (Rome), Lecce, Rovigo and Quartucciu (Cagliari)".

Tajani: Forza Italia is for emptying prisons, it is the government's chosen line

"In prisons there are too many inmates and not enough space, so we have made some proposals to reduce the number of inmates. One is on drug addicts who cannot stay in the same cells as other inmates and we asked that they be allowed to serve their sentences in communities. This is the direction the government has chosen and has accepted our proposals. Everything that goes in the direction of emptying prisons is fine, because we are absolutely convinced that punishment is the reduction of the sentenced person's freedom, but not the reduction or deprivation of the sentenced person's dignity because prison must re-educate so that those serving their sentences come out better than when they entered". Antonio Tajani, vice-premier and secretary of Forza Italia, when questioned in the Senate on the measure on prisons, pointed out: 'I am neither a do-gooder nor a laxer, but a defender of the dignity of prisoners.

European Delegation Bill 2025 tabled

"There are currently 66 infringement proceedings open against Italy, 12 of which concern the failure to transpose EU directives (7 of which have already been notified to the EU as transposed) and 54 for violations of European law. Since 2012, our nation has paid a total of EUR 1.205 billion as a result of these convictions. This is why it is essential to act promptly and responsibly, transposing the directives and adapting the national law to the EU regulations. The European Delegation Bill 2025, presented today in the Council of Ministers, moves in this direction. It is therefore not a bureaucratic step, but a timely political and strategic choice. The text takes into consideration European acts published between April 2024 and June 2025 and allows for the transposition of 2 directives and the adaptation to 10 European regulations'. Thus Tommaso Foti, Minister for European Affairs, Cohesion Policies and the NRP.

"The bill is divided into 13 articles, subdivided into three chapters, and includes an annex with a further 16 directives to be transposed without the need for specific delegation criteria. With this measure we are intervening in sectors that are fundamental for growth and innovation, starting with industrial property, with rules that guarantee the protection of designs and models, to the benefit of SMEs and creative sectors in particular. On the consumer protection front, the right to have goods repaired even beyond the legal guarantee is strengthened, thus promoting more sustainable consumption models. In the industrial sector, rules for the design and construction of machinery are updated, ensuring greater safety for workers and consumers, without hindering innovation. The measure also involves other important areas such as taxation, company law, data protection, environmental sustainability, road safety and citizen protection. The draft law confirms Italy's commitment to positive participation in the European Union, while respecting national sovereignty, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness and innovation of Italian companies.

A vademecum for dealing with cyber attacks

A vademecum, prepared by the National Cybersecurity Agency, has also been issued to deal with the threat of cyber attacks in the public administration. "An intervention that is considered not only necessary but also urgent: in the last two years, around 20 per cent of the attacks that our nation has suffered have concerned public administrations. In 2024 there were 756 attacks, basically a doubling compared to the previous year, and more than 50 per cent started from human error, which suggests that the human factor is the weak link'. Illustrating the document - which contains 'twelve simple rules' to 'promote secure digital environments' - was Minister for the Pa Paolo Zangrillo at a press conference at the end of the Council of Ministers. The vademecum is accompanied by an information campaign and a commercial..