Article 176 of the

Italian Criminal Code Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

concerns ''libertà condizionata'' (English: conditional release, or

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

.) According to the provisions of Article 176, an incarcerated person becomes eligible for a grant of ''libertà condizionata'' if he or she satisfies at least the following conditions: (1) The prisoner has spent more than thirty months in

confinement Confinement may refer to * With respect to humans: ** An old-fashioned or archaic synonym for childbirth ** Postpartum confinement (or postnatal confinement), a system of recovery after childbirth, involving rest and special foods ** Civil confi ...

, or in the case of someone subject to a

life sentence Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

, at least 26 years; (2) The prisoner has served more than half of their sentence, or if the inmate has served another sentence for another crime in the past, he has served three-quarters of that sentence; (3) The prisoner has less than five years remaining on a sentence between 7½ years and life. Once eligible for consideration, a prisoner must also be certified, based on his conduct in prison, as unlikely to commit another crime; otherwise, ''libertà condizionata'' need not be granted. In addition, the ''tribunale di sorveglianza'' (English: surveillance court) may impose conditions on the ex-convict's release. Typical conditions are that he must be at home during night-time hours or live in a certain municipality (Italian:

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

) and not leave without explicit court permission. If someone released under ''libertà condizionata'' commits a crime, he will be remanded to custody and serve the full term of the original sentence, in addition to any new penalty. Also, if he violates the conditions imposed by the ''tribunale di sorveglianza'', he may be returned to prison. A person who behaves satisfactorily under ''libertà condizionata'' for a period of five years is considered to have paid his debt to society. A person sentenced for a crime related to the

mafia "Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...

terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...

is ineligible for ''libertà condizionata'' unless he cooperates with the authorities. This effectively means that the convicted person will spend the remainder of their life in prison, but some critics argue that it is hard to know what evidence might support the assertion that ties of this sort have, in fact, been broken. Becoming a

pentito ''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...

and giving substantial help to the authorities is generally considered to be sufficient evidence of a change of heart. Of the approximately fifty thousand inmates in Italian prisons, only twenty-one were granted ''libertà condizionata'' in 2006. It is much more common to be allowed to work outside the prison during the day (''semilibertà'', i.e. semi-freedom).

References

* http://www.giustizia.it/statistiche/statistiche_dog/2006/agpenale/nazionalepen.xls {{DEFAULTSORT:Liberta condizionata Italian criminal law Criminal law legal terminology Parole Italian legal terminology Civil law legal terminology