GOVERNMENT DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN ITALIAN JAILS

GOVERNMENT DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY IN ITALIAN JAILS

(ANSA) - Rome, January 13 - The Italian government on Wednesday declared a state of emergency in the country's prison and approved a three-point plan by Justice Minister Angelino Alfano to address the critical levels of overcrowding.

Alfano said the reform would launch a massive building project to raise the prison system's capacity by 21,749, instate house arrest for small-time crooks and hire some 2,000 new prison guards.

He added the state of emergency would last for the rest of the year and that the 47 new cell blocks would be completed by 2012 at an estimated cost of 600 million euros.

Remarking on the decision, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said ''a civilized country can take the freedom away from a person who has committed a crime, but it cannot take away his dignity or undermine his health''.

Berlusconi said the building works would follow in the footsteps of the rebuilding effort in earthquake-struck city of L'Aquila with construction crews working in shifts around the clock.

''This is the same scheme that has allowed us to put a roof over the head of everyone who lost their home (in the April 2009 quake),'' he said.

News of the declaration was greeted enthusiastically by prison-guard unions, who said it answered many of their concerns about living conditions and safety in Italian jails.

The Italian prison population reached a post-war high last year of some 65,000 inmates, around 21,000 more than its ageing facilities were designed to handle.

Experts have blamed the overcrowding for a record 71 prison suicides in 2009.