Sunday 17 June 2007

Robberies soar as Italy frees 15,000 inmates "The number of bank robberies has risen nationwide, official statistics say, including a staggering 102 per cent increase in Piedmont, in the north. There have also been marked increases in Veneto (85.1 per cent) and the Marche region (86.9 per cent),...When the amnesty was introduced, Italy's prison population was 62,000; its jails have a capacity of 45,000." Internal disintegration? Crime statistics are often unreliable; nevertheless, what can be said for many western countries is that prison populations have been on the rise for decades and that overcrowding has become the rule rather than the exception.