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Overcrowded minus one

By K.N.C. and L.P.

The excesses and vacancies of Europe’s prison populations

SILVIO BERLUSCONI begins serving a ten-month sentence of community service today for tax fraud, arriving by limousine at a hospice for Alzheimer's patients near Milan. The original four-year prison sentence against Italy’s former prime minister was cut to one year, and then whittled down again. His avoiding prison is a good thing for the country's roughly 66,000 inmates, who live in the second-most crowded conditions in Europe. Serbia, which has one-sixth the number of prisoners, is the most stuffed. Turkey, according to figures from the Council of Europe, has among the most vacant cells (despite about twice as many inmates as Italy). In recent days, several of Mr Berlusconi’s associates have been arrested for trying to flee justice or helping others do so. One can only expect that more Italian nursing homes will get helping hands.

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