From 12 to 14 December 2025, Italy will celebrate the Jubilee for Prisoners—a spiritual and symbolic event promoted by the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, together with the Department of Penitentiary Administration (DAP) and a broad network of civil and religious institutions. Among the initiatives is the “Games of Hope,” a “small prison Olympics” developed in partnership with DAP and the magistrates’ network “Sport and Legality.” The second edition will take place at the Rebibbia Women’s Prison on 12 December, bringing together inmates, prison officers, magistrates and civil society representatives in a series of sports competitions.
As Sister Alessandra Smerilli FMA, Secretary of the Dicastery, explains:
“For those living in detention, sport has a profound value: it teaches respect, discipline and teamwork; it helps people recognise their limits and discover new strengths. In prison, sport is more than physical activity — it becomes an experience of possible freedom, of relationship, of restored trust.”
Beyond the sports events, the Jubilee will include moments of prayer, conferences on the rehabilitative purpose of punishment, and cultural activities both inside and outside the prisons. The aim is to give voice to those living in detention, emphasising dignity, hope and pathways to social reintegration.
But the Jubilee cannot remain a symbolic gesture. The current state of Italian prisons — marked by overcrowding, health fragilities, suicides and insufficient medical services — highlights the urgency of turning these reflections into concrete action.
Overcrowding and Living Conditions: The 2024–2025 Snapshot
According to Antigone’s 2025 report “Senza Respiro”, as of 30 April Italian prisons held 62,445 inmates against an official capacity of 51,280. When subtracting cells temporarily unusable due to maintenance or structural issues, the real overcrowding rate reaches 133%.
Only 36 out of 189 institutions are not overcrowded. Meanwhile, 58 prisons exceed 150% capacity, with dramatic peaks such as Milan San Vittore, which reaches 220%.
By June 2025, the total prison population had risen further to 62,728, more than 1,200 inmates added in a single year.
Inspections conducted by Antigone in 86 institutions reveal that many cells do not meet the minimum requirement of 3 m² per person, and that medical services are often insufficient, frequently lacking 24-hour coverage.
Mental Health and Mortality: 2024, the Most Critical Year on Record
The year 2024 saw 91 suicides, the highest number ever recorded in Italian prisons.
In just the first five months of 2025, 33 suicides had already occurred, confirming that the critical trend has not reversed.
Overall, 2024 registered 246 deaths in prison due to suicide, illness, overdose and other non-natural causes.
These figures reflect an increasingly fragile health environment, characterised by severe psychiatric conditions, self-harm, delays in specialist care and gaps in therapeutic continuity.
Within this context, a number of new health initiatives were launched in 2025 to strengthen prevention, information and medical assistance in the penitentiary system.
Cancer Prevention in Campania Prisons: The Pascale–AIOM Project
In Campania, Italy’s first national three-year oncology prevention programme for prisons has been launched through a partnership between the IRCCS Pascale Institute, AIOM, Fondazione AIOM, the National Cancer Institute of Naples and the Regional Penitentiary Administration.
The initiative includes awareness events, training courses and research projects for both inmates and penitentiary staff.
AIOM President Francesco Perrone highlights inmates’ vulnerability:
“Over 70% of male inmates smoke regularly and half would like to quit. Forty percent are sedentary, and only 13% eat the recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables. It is essential to guarantee screenings such as mammography, faecal occult blood testing or HPV testing even in prison.”
Pascale General Director Maurizio di Mauro adds:
“Cancer can and must be fought in Italian prisons as well. This project is a laboratory for healthcare that reaches the most fragile populations and a model to be scaled nationally.”
Women’s Health and Infectious Diseases: The “I CARE – Virology Edition”
For World AIDS Day, Cittadinanzattiva launched the video message and guide “I CARE – Virology Edition,” the second edition of a project focused on the health of women at Rome’s Rebibbia Women’s Prison.
The programme promotes health literacy on HIV, hepatitis and HPV, training “ambassadors” among inmates to share accurate information within the prison community.
As Laura Liberto of Cittadinanzattiva explains:
“Intervening at Rebibbia, the largest women’s prison in Europe, responds to a concrete need: equipping detained women with tools to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and STIs, starting with their own health.”
The initiative includes Open Days, multilingual health materials and prevention kits, and strengthens the implementation of civic recommendations on women’s health in detention.
Screening and New Therapeutic Approaches: The Role of SIMSPe
The Italian Society of Prison Medicine and Healthcare (SIMSPe) has launched new programmes for screening and treating HIV, hepatitis C and tuberculosis, with notable results: the prevalence of HIV among inmates has dropped from 10% to 1% in the last 20 years.
SIMSPe Scientific Director Sergio Babudieri notes:
“Hepatitis C can be eradicated in a few weeks, while antiretroviral treatments make HIV a chronic infection with a quality of life comparable to the general population.”
Professor Giordano Madeddu warns that some infections are resurging, particularly among foreign-born inmates:
“For tuberculosis and hepatitis B, systematic screening is essential, while new long-acting HIV therapies improve adherence and reduce stigma.”
