Prisoners sit in a cell in the historic Regina Coeli or Queen of Heaven jail in Rome June 6, 2013. REUTERS/Tony Gentile
ROME (Reuters) - Italy moved to ease critically overcrowded prisons on Wednesday, passing a decree to reduce pre-trial detention and encourage alternatives to jail time for minor offences.
Italian jails are the most crowded in the European Union, with close to 67,000 detainees held in jails built for 45,000, and some prisons at over 250 percent of the capacity they were built for, according to rights group Antigone.
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