Almost no one in Italy talks about judicial errors, but how many are there? How many people end up in prison or under house arrest, only to later turn out to be innocent? And how much does the State spend to compensate these people for unjust detention?
It is necessary to distinguish cases of compensation for unjust detention from those of compensation resulting from judicial error, the latter do not constitute the object of study of the data provided by the Campania Guarantor of persons deprived of personal liberty, as well as national spokesperson of the Conference of Territorial Guarantors of person deprived of personal freedom, Samuele Ciambriello:
“In first place we find the Court of Appeal of Reggio Calabria with 82 payment orders for compensation for unjust detention issued in 2023, followed by Rome with 59 orders, Catania with 53 as well as the Court of Appeal of Palermo, Catanzaro with 52 orders, Naples with 43 ordinances, and Salerno with 16 ordinances.
For the amount of compensation allocated for these people in first place is the Court of Appeal of Reggio Calabria for €8,019,396, Palermo with €3,845,580, Rome €2,626,240, Catanzaro €2,129,959, Catania € 1,565,935, Lecce €1,179,757, Naples €955,099 and Salerno €761,394. The overall amount paid in 2023 as compensation for unjust detention throughout Italy is equal to €27,844,794 and refers to 619 orders with the which the Courts of Appeal have ordered the payment.”
From 1991 to 31 December 2023, there were 32,016 cases of judicial errors and victims of unjust detention, on average just over 960 people per year!
“These are shocking numbers, so every day 3 people end up in prison without guilt, years of freedom stolen by Italian justice. A reflection, for efficient prevention interventions, overcoming a prison-centric vision is more necessary and necessary than ever. Urgent interventions are needed in prison here and now!” Thus concludes the Guarantor Ciambriello.
