How many people are imprisoned in Italy?

Italy's prison population is 64,412 people. This figure aggregates all forms of detention counted by the source: sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and administrative detentions.

What is the incarceration rate in Italy?

Italy's incarceration rate is approximately 109 people per 100,000 population.

How many prisons are there in Italy?

World Prisons indexes 510 individual facilities in Italy. Each entry links to a detail page with contact information, capacity, oversight reports, and known conditions.

All countries

Europe · Southern Europe

Italy

Q: Does Italy have the death penalty?

Italy's death-penalty status is: abolitionist. Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

High confidence

Verified 20 May 2026 · Data dated 30 Apr 2026

Aging · 5mo ago

Suicide-in-custody rate among the highest in Europe; ECtHR pilot Torreggiani v. Italy (2013) drove reform.

Compare Italy World Prison Brief page

Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.

Prison population

64,412

Year: 2026

Rate per 100,000

109

Per 100,000 residents

Occupancy

125.6%

Above design capacity

Pre-trial / remand

23.4%

Share not yet sentenced

Female prisoners

4.4%

Foreign nationals

31.5%

Figures from official sources · verified 20 May 2026 · methodology

Conditions risk — across 510 facilities

Average of our computed Conditions Risk Score across the country's facilities. Methodology · Browse highest-risk

—

national average

510 unknown

abolitionist on capital punishment since 1994. Last known execution: 1947.ICCPR-OP2 (death-penalty abolition protocol): signatory

Seeded from Amnesty International 2024 categorisation + Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.

Source: Amnesty International + Cornell Death Penalty Worldwide.

153 documented human-rights cases →

How Italy compares

vs Europe (16) & global averages

Rate per 100,000this: 109 · region: 108 · global: 214

Occupancy ratethis: 126% · region: 95% · global: 125%

Pre-trial sharethis: 23% · region: 28% · global: 32%

The vertical ticks mark the global (grey) and regional (amber) means. Bars are clipped at the high end for readability.

Prison population over time

Annual figures, latest survey year

2000: 53,165+16.5% over 25y2025: 61,916

Source: World Prison Brief / unodc / eurostat / Council of Europe SPACE I

Health & mortality

Custodial mortality + prison-health indicators aggregated from national statistics offices, UCLA custodial mortality dataset, and Marshall Project COVID tracking.

Indicators (latest by source)

Mortality Rate
118.06per_100k_pa
2020 · source: who-hiped

Capacity

—

Held

—

bagne de Civitavecchia

Italy

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bagni di Lucca concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bagno a Ripoli concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bazzano concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bergeggi concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Boiano concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bojano concentration camp

Italy

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bolzano concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Borgo San Dalmazzo concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

Bourbon prison

Italy

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Brissogne and Aosta prison

Italy

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Buoncammino prison

Italy

Type

—

Capacity

—

Held

—

Cairo Montenotte concentration camp

Italy

Type

Concentration camp

Capacity

—

Held

—

See all 510 prisons in Italy →

Data completeness

100%

Score based on how many fields are populated. We surface this so you know where the gaps are.

National population: 58,880,0002026
Source-verified: 20 May 2026
Source links: 2 cited

Sources

Direct citations for the figures on this page.

Primary reference
World Prison Brief (ICPS, Birkbeck) — Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research
Council of Europe â SPACE statistics — Council of Europe
See /data-sources for our methodology.

ISO 3166-1 alpha-3: ITA

Cite this page

Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.

APA

World Prisons. (2026). Italy — prison statistics. Retrieved October 15, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/countries/italy

Chicago

"Italy — prison statistics." World Prisons. Accessed October 15, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/countries/italy.

BibTeX

@misc{worldprisons-italy,
  author = {{World Prisons}},
  title = {Italy — prison statistics},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://worldprisons.com/countries/italy},
  urldate = {2026-10-15}
}