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Overcrowding, suicides and self-harm, the thorns of prisons in 2026

With the new year for the prison system, the problems of last year still remain. This is what emerges from the balance sheet of the Antigone association

by Davide Madeddu

1 January 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

From overcrowding to services that are in short supply, and ending with self-harm and deaths. Problems that affect Italian prisons and that all reappear with the start of the new year. Drawing this end-of-year balance is Antigone, the association for rights and guarantees in the penal system.

2,000 more prisoners

"At the end of November 2025," emerges the association's balance sheet, "there were 63,868 people in Italian prisons, almost 2,000 more than a year ago, against an effective capacity of only 46,124 places (700 fewer than there were at the beginning of the year). The national overcrowding rate reached 138.5 per cent, with 72 institutions exceeding 150 per cent and peaks of over 200 per cent'.

3 square metres per person

There is also another aspect highlighted after the visits of the association's volunteers in the prisons. "In 42.9 per cent of the 120 prisons visited, and of the 71 files for which data have already been processed," the report continues, "the 3 square metres of living space per person are not guaranteed (in 2024 this percentage stood at 32.3 per cent); more than half of the prisons have cells without showers and in 45.1 per cent there is a lack of hot water or adequate hygienic conditions".

238 deaths recorded among inmates

No less important is the figure on deaths. "238 people died in prison in 2025, of whom 79 committed suicide, as reported in Ristretti Orizzonti's 'Dying in Prison' dossier".

A painful balance

"It is always painful to take stock of another year in prison in Italy, but the balance sheet at the end of 2025 is perhaps the gloomiest in recent years," says Patrizio Gonnella, president of the association. Because it returns the image of a penitentiary system that is increasingly in crisis, with tensions growing steadily and a deafening silence on the part of the institutions that refuse any hypothesis of reform and any intervention that would allow them to lighten the weight of prisons, to the benefit of the detainees, who live crammed one on top of the other, and of the operators who, already understaffed, denounce a heavy and growing work stress".

180 more prisoners per month

For the volunteers, the increase in the number of prisoners, '180 more people every month', 'cannot be explained by an increase in crime'. "In the first half of 2025, reported crimes", they argue, "were 1,140,825, compared to 1,199,072 in the same period of the previous year, a decrease of 4.8%". According to Antigone volunteers, "it is therefore not crime that is growing, but the use of detention as an almost exclusive response to social conflicts, fragility and marginality.

In the meantime, the capacity of the prison system has further decreased'. The report emphasises that 'structural overcrowding has now reached intolerable levels: almost 18,000 places are missing compared to the actual presence, with a national overcrowding rate of 138.5 per cent'.

Overcrowding up to 247%

So the cases: "In Lucca the crowding rate is 247%, in Vigevano 243%, in Milan San Vittore 231%, in Brescia Canton Monbello 216%, in Foggia 215%, in Lodi 211%, in Udine 209%, in Trieste 201%". Even more worrying is the situation in penal institutes for juveniles where there is an 'increase of detainees'.

The volunteers, who have been following prison affairs since 1998, also point to a number of other critical elements: "In 10 per cent of the institutions visited, the heating was not always working, and in 45.1 per cent there were problems with hot water," the report emphasises. More than half of the prisons (56.3 per cent) still have cells without showers, despite the fact that the prison regulations of 2000 stipulate that they are compulsory. Structural deficiencies also concern living and treatment spaces: in 8.5 per cent of the institutes there are no spaces for socialising, in 8.6 per cent there are no rooms dedicated exclusively to schooling and training, and in 31 per cent there are no rooms for work activities such as carpentry or workshops".

Self-harm

In 23 per cent of the visited prisons there are no green areas for outdoor interviews with family members. "Critical events also remain very high," the report continues, "in the institutions visited, an average of 16.7 acts of self-harm for every 100 inmates, 2.6 attempted suicides and 16.4 disciplinary isolations for every 100 inmates are recorded. Not forgetting the issue of mental suffering. "From the more than 100 visits carried out this year by Antigone, it emerged that 8.9 per cent of the detained persons had a serious psychiatric diagnosis at the time of the visits," he goes on to say. "Against this, 20 per cent regularly took mood stabilisers, antipsychotics or antidepressants, while 44.4 per cent used sedatives or hypnotics. Psychotropic drugs continue to represent one of the main tools for managing internal order and social unease, often in the absence of real therapeutic and support needs and pathways'.

Campaign launch and petition

Hence the launch of the campaign 'Inhuman and degrading. The Italian prison is out of constitutional legality', and together the petition signed at the moment by about 1,500 people, calling for urgent and no longer prolonged reforms.