This article aims to identify the similarities and differences between Italy and other European countries regarding the composition and evolution of their prison populations between 1982-3 and 2009. The analyses are based on data from the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics (SPACE). The increase in the Italian prison population between 1983 and 2009 - despite a collective pardon in 2006 – inscribes itself in a general upward trend in the prison populations of almost all Western European countries. This trend is partially explained by an increase in the length of the sentences imposed in all these countries since the early 1980s. In the case of Italy, the length of the judicial proceedings as wells as the overrepresentation of foreign prisoners also played a role in such increase. Italy is among the Western European countries with the highest prison population and prison density rates. The country also shows high percentages of remand detainees, of prisoners serving life imprisonment or sentences longer than ten years, of prisoners convicted for drug offenses, as well as of foreigners in prison, namely on remand.
