Prison overcrowding and the right to hope in Europe and in Italy: an analysis through the lens of Article 3 ECHR.

The violation of prisoners’ fundamental rights is still a scourge that afflicts most European countries. Inadequate detention conditions together with the frequent violation of the supranational standards of imprisonment have resulted in several judgments through which the European Court of Human Rights has stated the violation of Article 3 ECHR. Such norm is strictly related to both prison overcrowding and the right to hope. As to the former, the same Court has stressed that such phenomenon is often accompanied by many negative implications for prisoners’ fundamental rights which give rise a strong presumption of a human rights breach. As to the latter, the same ECtHR has argued that the absolute preclusion for lifers to hope to regain their freedom, deriving from the irreducibility de iure and de fact of the sentence, does not comply with the prohibition of torture and inhuman or degrading treatments established by Article 3 ECHR. Such issues concern several European Member States, among which Italy. Indeed, prison overcrowding has been considered by the ECtHR as a chronic problem afflicting Italian penitentiary system. Similarly, even Italian ergastolo ostativo has been considered an irreducible sentence and, therefore, a regime contrary to the principles enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. This research work analyses the European legal framework and the activity of several European institution (i.e. the CPT and the ECtHR) aimed at offering protection to prisoners’ fundamental rights. Then it focuses on the most important supranational case-law on prison overcrowding and the right to hope, focusing on the main principles established at European level. Then, the research analyses Italian legal system, the reform adopted to comply with supranational standards, the most recent case law of domestic Courts and the criticalities which still afflict national system. Finally, it aims at giving an answer to this question: does Italian legal system comply with the principles on detention established by Article 3 ECHR concerning prison overcrowding and the right to hope?