According to a new report published by the Italian daily newspaper Il Sole, almost 40 percent of prisoners held in Italian jails are foreign-born. According to the report, Moroccan and Romanians make up the largest numbers of these prisoners – with some 4,199 Moroccans and 2,738 Romanians, of the total 51,736 jailed in Italian prisons. The Il Sole report was based on statistics from the Italian penitentiary administration department. Albanians, Tunisians, Algerians, and Nigerians also comprise the large number of foreign nationals. Many were largely jailed because of their illegal status, not because of criminal allegations of violent behavior.
