From 1 to 12 September 2025, an ad hoc visit was carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), aimed at documenting the conditions of detention in certain Italian penitentiary institutions. The delegation inspected the prisons of Avellino, Florence Sollicciano, Foggia, Genoa Marassi and Santa Maria Capua Vetere, focusing on how the Italian authorities are addressing the critical issues within the prison system. The latter, as already highlighted in the Yearbook, shows an overcrowding rate of 134.3%. The Committee also focused in particular on staff shortages and their training, the high number of deaths in custody, and the quality of healthcare provided to prisoners.

Whereas the 2024 visit had been dedicated to the treatment and conditions of detention of foreign nationals in the Repatriation Detention Centres (CPR) — noting alleged physical ill-treatment, excessive use of force by officers, and the poor quality of food provided — in 2022, the Committee carried out a visit aimed at assessing detention conditions in Italy, at the end of which it issued a series of recommendations to the country. Among these were:

1. reduce prison overcrowding, including through non-custodial measures before conviction and expedited release procedures with personalised supervision tools;
2. ensure a minimum of 4 m² of living space per inmate in shared cells, in line with legal standards;
3. strengthen staff training in managing high-risk situations, with particular attention to vulnerable detainees;
4. tackle inmate-on-inmate violence through anti-bullying protocols and dynamic security strategies;
5. abolish without delay the measure of solitary confinement (isolamento diurno) as set out in Article 72 of the Penal Code;
6. improve the material conditions of detention: adequate furnishings, functioning facilities, hygiene, cleanliness, and access to natural light.

The 2025 visit therefore represents a decisive moment, as it will require the Italian Government to respond, after three years, to the follow-up requests made by the Committee. Since 1992, Italy has been regularly subjected to CPT visits, as the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture entered into force for the country on 1 April 1989, following its ratification on 29 December 1988.