Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, life imprisonment ( it, ergastolo) is the most severe punishment provided by law, and has an indeterminate length. Article 22 of the Italian Penal Code defines life imprisonment as "perpetual, and is taken for granted in one of the establishments destined for this, with the obligation of work and with night-time isolation", thus meaning that the sentence may last for the remainder of the convicted person's life. It is a mandatory punishment for aggravated cases of murder, aggravated cases of terrorism,

felony murder The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in s ...

in cases where serious violent offences result in death, using a weapon of mass destruction by causing an endemic through the spread of pathogenic germs in the case of a biological weapon, and

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 ...

association under aggravated circumstances. It is also a possible punishment for terrorism, poisoning of water or food supplies, and treason. After 10 years (8 in case of good behavior) the prisoner may be given permission to work outside the prison during the day and/or to spend up to 45 days a year at home, and after 26 (or 21 in case of good behavior) years, they may be paroled. The admission to work outside the jail or to be paroled needs to be approved by a special court (Tribunale di Sorveglianza) which determines whether or not an inmate is suitable for ''

libertà condizionata Article 176 of the Italian Criminal Code concerns ''libertà condizionata'' (English: conditional release, or parole.) According to the provisions of Article 176, an incarcerated person becomes eligible for a grant of ''libertà condizionata'' i ...

'' (parole). Unless they co-operate with the authorities, prisoners sentenced for associations with

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 ...

activities and/or

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 ...

are ineligible for parole, and thus will spend the rest of their life in prison. A person sentenced to multiple life sentences in Italy may be required by the Minister of Justice to serve a period of between 6 months to years in the "''41-bis'' regime" of solitary confinement, subject to extension and review. citing Italian prisoners subject to special surveillance ("''14-bis'' regime") may be in de-facto

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

. Since 1994, the maximum sentence for a person under age 18 has been a term of 20 years' imprisonment.

References

Law of Italy {{Italy-stub