If You Are Going To Murder Someone, Do It In Italy

Here's three lengthy excerpts from a great Wall Street Journal story about Italy letting its criminals out of jail:

ROME -- Less than two years ago, Italy's prison system faced a crisis: Built to hold 43,000 inmates, it was straining to contain more than 60,000.

So the government crafted an emergency plan. It swung open the prison doors and let more than a third of the inmates go free.

Within months, bank robberies jumped by 20%. Kidnappings and fraud also rose, as did computer crime, arson and purse-snatchings. The prison population, however, fell so much that for awhile Italy had more prison guards than prisoners to guard.

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Prison Infrastructure

The sorry state of Italy's prison infrastructure plays a role, too. Prosecutors have charged Salvatore Ferranti for being a henchman of one of Sicily's fiercest crime families. But last month he was released from the slammer and given house arrest. The reason: He was too fat. The prison system didn't have beds big enough to accommodate his 462-pound frame.

"The fact of the matter is that obesity is not compatible with prison," says Lino Buscemi, secretary of the Sicily region's Department of Prisoners' Rights in Palermo.

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Semi-Liberty Program

Cristoforo Piancone was one of the most fearsome members of the Red Brigades terrorist group which carried out numerous assassinations, kidnappings and robberies during the 1970s and '80s. Mr. Piancone was convicted of six murders and two attempted murders, and given the maximum prison sentence, according to police.

But in return for good behavior, he was placed in what is known as a "semi-liberty" program, which lets convicts leave jail during the day. So Mr. Piancone took a day job as a janitor in a school, according to police.

Last summer, flanked by an accomplice, he walked into a bank in Siena wearing a fisherman's hat and sunglasses and, armed with a pistol, held it up for €170,000, or about $267,000, according to police. He is back in prison, awaiting trial.

Neither Mr. Piancone nor a lawyer representing him could be reached for comment.

Prosecutors complain the deck is stacked against them. "Someone who commits bribery, insider trading, tax evasion, false bookkeeping, what have you, is pretty much guaranteed to go free," says Bruno Tinti, a prosecutor in Turin who wrote a book about Italy's justice system called "Toghe Rotte" or "Broken Robes." One chapter purports to outline a satirical step-by-step guide to killing your wife and mostly avoiding jail time.

Here's the logic: Once the deed is done, Mr. Tinti writes, immediately confess and provide the police with the weapon and the corpse. These steps mean that, under Italian law, there is no risk of flight or evidence-tampering, and therefore no need for pretrial custody.

Murder can carry a sentence of more than 20 years, but requesting a speedy trial automatically cuts that by a third. Arguing that your dead wife was cheating can be good for another third off. Eventually, the sentence can be reduced to 10 years -- at which point only four years will actually need to be served. (Recall that most people sentenced to six years or less don't serve the time due to community-service and other provisions.)

"This is the proof that court sentences are fiction," says Mr. Tinti.

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