On November 16, 2017, Sbilanciamoci! presented at the Chamber of Deputies its 19th report on an alternative allocation of state expenditures. The creation of this report was possible thanks to the network of 47 organizations that contributed to each macro area.

The report is organised into 7 different sections, each focusing on a macro area. They include: taxation and finance; policies on industry, jobs and revenue; culture and knowledge; and cooperation, peace and disarmament.

The report is also available online and also shows more data and infographics created by the Sbilanciamoci team on the current situation of Italian finances.

Liberties member Antigone also contributed to the report with a chapter on the improvement of prison finance.

Among other things, the contribution stresses the chronic overcrowding of the prison system (currently operating at 120% capacity, according to the Italian government at the Committee against Torture) and gives an alternative allocation of the 3 billion euros that the Italian state spends for the prison system, 70% of which is spent on penitentiary police.

Alternative measures to detention

First of all, the use of and budget for alternative measures should be increased. Alternative measures are less costly and more effective in reaching the intended goals of punishment, which is to resocialise offenders and discourage future criminal acts. At the moment, only 2.5% of the budget is allocated for alternative measures to detention, which means that the most advanced part of our penal system is one of the least funded.

Another recent piece of research shows how the 34% of detainees in Italian prisons are incarcerated for drug-related offences; therefore, a possible way to diminish the overcrowding rate is to depenalise drug-related crimes.

More non-police personnel

Recent research has illustrated how the Department of the Penitentiary Administration (DAP) has too few educational personnel and cultural mediators. In particular, every educator is responsible for 64 detainees, while the situation for cultural mediators is even worse, as each of them is in charge of 92 foreign detainees.

The situation is also worrisome in relation to prison directors and vice-directors - in fact, 30% of Italian prison directors are responsible for at least two (if not three) facilities.

Reallocation of tasks

In every prison there are some tasks that are not security related and that are currently carried out by police personnel. The proposal in this case is to hire some non-police personnel, or to convert those tasks into job offers for detainees, who are always lacking work opportunities.

Adjustment of compensations for working detainees

The DAP recently decided to adjust the compensation for working-detainees to the current cost of living (the previous adjustment had been in 1993); therefore, it is important to adequately finance this increase in order to guarantee a just compensation to working detainees.