Overcrowding in Poggioreale prison in Naples has reached 170%.

Naples – The official figures published by the Ministry of Justice, based on actual capacity, leave no room for interpretation: the Italian prison system has reached breaking point. With a real overcrowding rate of 142,3% nationwide and dramatic peaks in the Campania region, detention risks losing all adherence to constitutional requirements.

Samuele Ciambriello, Regional Guarantor of Prisoners' Rights in Campania and spokesperson for the National Conference of Guarantors, raised this dramatic alarm, commenting on the latest monitoring update to September 3, 2026. The analysis confirms the presence of 65.729 inmates compared to only 46.206 places actually available.
Unusable places and ministerial "fiction"

"We continue to evaluate the system's capacity based on a theoretical capacity of over 51 places," Ciambriello emphasizes, "but the reality tells a different story: there are 5.006 places that are completely unusable, including closed sections and cells that are no longer in use. The difference between official documents and daily reality translates into 19.523 people crammed into unlivable spaces."

For the Guarantor, overcrowding undermines the very function of punishment: "Talking about re-education under these conditions is state hypocrisy: we are faced with a punishment that transfigures into a degrading human punishment."

The collapse of institutions in Campania

The Campania region remains among the most critical in the entire peninsula, with a prison population of 8.064 (including 430 women and 952 foreigners). Of the total inmates, 6.044 are serving a final sentence, while 1.287 are still awaiting their first trial.

The Naples Poggioreale prison leads the criticality ranking, exceeding the 170% threshold for actual overcrowding with 2.302 inmates. Extreme structural conditions are also observed in other institutions in the region:

• Santa Maria Capua Vetere: 1.044 inmates for 665 real places;
  Salerno: 582 prisoners out of 369 places;
  Benevento: 364 spectators at a capacity of 232 (over 152% capacity).
• Added to this saturation of space is a serious and chronic shortage of staff in both the Penitentiary Police and healthcare personnel.

Demands to politicians: deflationary measures are needed

Faced with such a situation, responses can no longer be postponed. "Immediate and courageous interventions are needed," Ciambriello concludes. "We don't need new prisons, but rather 'new prisons' and measures to curb influxes. We need to expand early release, increase alternatives to detention, and consider clemency measures. We can't continue to manage a structural emergency with institutional silence."