Italy moves to relieve overcrowding in its jail cells

But prison reform advocates say the measure will accomplish little. "It's a flimsy, ineffective and offensive attempt to appease those seeking genuine prison reform," says Professor Ponce De Leon. "This government has been so busy creating shameful legislation to favor the judicial situation of its prime minister, it is too bad some of that fervor couldn't have been dedicated to the less fortunate and defenseless."

The prison population grew exponentially in the past 15 years, alongside an increase in immigration and the implementation of mandatory sentences.

While the previous prison generation of prisoners was made up primarily of career criminals - thieves, murderers and kidnappers - today's population includes many imprisoned on lesser offenses.

Prisoner suicides and stress-related ailments like heart attacks and self-mutilation have increased, says The Rev. Piersandro Spriano, a Roman Catholic priest who has served as chaplain in Rebibbia 13 years and is president of Volontari in Carcere, a group of 120 volunteers who visit prisoners, help them contact attorneys, and bring personal items like clothes, soap, and shampoo.

The hiring of judges has not kept pace with the increase in arrests, which means trial schedules are crowded, appeals take longer, and first-time offenders - or even defendants held on remand - are often in cells with hardened criminals while awaiting trial.

Exact numbers on the shortage of judges are not available, but in Rome, the average judge currently has a waiting list of 1,000 trials.

Pope John Paul II spoke about prison overcrowding first in his Jubilee speech in 2000 and then again in an unprecedented November 2002 speech before the Italian legislature, asking the government to find an effective solution. "Everyone applauded, and that was that," said Roberto, who is serving a 25-year sentence for murder. "Nothing more happened."

Prisoners have sometimes protested overcrowding by beating their bars or going on hunger strikes.

Judge Laura Longo, who presides at the Tribunale di Sorveglianza di Roma, also serves as an advocate for the 27th Amendment of the Italian Constitution, which protects prisoners' rights. She said she once toured a Rome prison in 95-degree heat in which nine men were placed in a cell built for four.

"We changed it immediately," she says, but adds that this was just one drop in a sea of problems that need fixing.

Because of overcrowding, prison administrators feel overwhelmed and they can't respond to even serious problems quickly, Father Spriano says. "The whole rehabilitation mechanism slows down.

"We have an incredible increase in the number of people from the marginal parts of society," he adds. "Immigrants, for instance, can't understand the system. They do not have proper translators and attorneys within the system, and they are more likely to end up in prison than an Italian who can actually defend himself."

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