Italy may release up 10,000 people from prison to ease overcrowding

FILE PHOTO: An inmate leans against a corridor barred door inside San Vittore prison in Milan, Italy, March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Claudia Greco/File Photo

ROME (Reuters) -Italy may release up to around 10,000 people from prison, or about 15% of the total population of inmates, to ease overcrowding, the Justice Ministry has announced.

Some 10,105 prisoners are "potentially eligible" for alternative measures to prison, such as house arrest or probation, the ministry said in a statement late on Tuesday.