Italy adopts therapeutic home detention for drug‑ and alcohol‑dependent prisoners

The Italian Parliament approved a reform of the D.P.R. 309/1990, adding articles 94‑ter and 94‑quater that create a “therapeutic home detention” regime. The measure raises the residual‑sentence threshold from six to eight years for eligible inmates and excludes the most serious offences. It is intended to ease chronic prison overcrowding while directing drug‑ and alcohol‑dependent offenders to health‑care programmes.

Justice Minister Carlo Nordio announced that roughly 10,000 prisoners could be transferred to community‑based treatment under the new law. Critics warn that Italy’s already strained public‑health system, especially the Services for Dependencies (SerD) and psychiatric units, may be unable to absorb the influx, risking a shift of pressure from prisons to hospitals.

The reform estimates up to 14,000 inmates could qualify, but funding and staffing shortfalls raise doubts about its practical implementation.