Italy’s constitutional court has overturned a law that tripled sentences for selling, cultivating and possessing cannabis, declaring it “illegitimate”.
Prison rights group Antigone say the law has caused prison overcrowding, with 40 per cent of all inmates serving sentences for drug crimes.
It could affect some 10,000 people who may be released from jail as a result.
The law went into effect in 2006 under the conservative government led by the then-Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
Italian jails are considered to be the most crowded in the European Union.
According to official data, cited by Reuters news agency, around 62,000 detainees are held in cells built for fewer than 48,000.
In January 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that overcrowding in Italy’s jails violates the basic rights of inmates. The Italian authorities were fined 100,000 euros ($135,700, £81,934) and ordered to solve the overcrowding issue within a year.
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