Prison

Gianni Alemanno obtains sentence reduction for degrading prison conditions at Rebibbia

The Rome Supervisory Court recognises the difficult conditions of his detention and grants a reduced sentence to the former mayor of Rome, with release expected in June.

by Rome Editorial Staff

24 April 2026

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

2' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Due to the 'inhuman and degrading conditions' in prison, Gianni Alemanno has had his sentence reduced by 39 days. The former mayor of Romewill be released on 24 June from the Rebibbia prison.

The decision of the Supervisory Court

The OK for the reduction came from the Supervisory Court of Rome by virtue of the application under Article 35 ter of the penal code submitted by lawyer Edoardo Albertario. The lawyers' request refers to the 'inhuman and degrading conditions in which he has been detained over the past year'.

"We are very happy for the result achieved,' the lawyer told Agi, 'not so much for the reduction of the sentence per se, but because the Rome Supervisory Magistrate has certified what Alemanno has strongly maintained in recent months, namely that the conditions of detention suffered by him and many other detainees are degrading and disrespectful of human dignity.

The investigation Middle World

A decision taken in relation to the 22-month prison sentence Alemanno is serving in Rome's Rebibbia penitentiary after being convicted of trafficking in influence in one of the strands of the 'Mondo di Mezzo' investigation in which he was acquitted of all other charges. Alemanno, it will be recalled, was arrested on 31 December 2024 for having transgressed his alternative sentence.

Thousands of such cases every year

This is not an exception, nor is it a rare case. On the contrary: 'The case of Gianni Alemanno is just one of the thousands of appeals accepted in recent years'. This was written by Antigone, an association for rights and guarantees in the penal system. Which rattles off the most recent data: in 2024, 5,837 detainees had been granted a sentence discount for similar reasons, "generally attributable to the fact of having been imprisoned in cells lacking the minimum space of 3 square metres per person. At the end of 2024, there were 61,861 persons detained in Italian prisons. In March this year there were 64,000, so it is easy to predict how the number of successful appeals will grow'.

The association has launched the 'Inhuman and degrading' campaign, asking "the government and parliament (also through a petition signed so far by 1,700 people) to intervene immediately with reforms necessary to guarantee detention conditions that respect human rights". In 2013, he recalls, "the European Court of Human Rights, with the Torreggiani ruling, condemned Italia for the inhuman or degrading conditions in our prisons. About 4,000 appeals had been filed by as many Italian prisoners. That pilot judgment opened the door to a season of reforms, where detention conditions were the focus of public attention. Today, the numbers of upheld appeals are higher than those presented at the time and yet, despite the need for urgent action, prison is only looked at as a horizon for penal-populist policies'.

Read the article "Prison overcrowding still growing" of 18 March 2026.