Last year the Italians
proclaimed a prisoner amnesty for criminals with less than three years left to serve on their sentences.
More than 15,000 inmates were released. Within hours, dozens had been arrested and sent back to jail after reoffending.
Chuckle.
The number of bank robberies has risen nationwide, official statistics say, including a staggering 102 per cent increase in Piedmont, in the north. There have also been marked increases in Veneto (85.1 per cent) and the Marche region (86.9 per cent), where, after a three-day series of bank raids that netted more than £70,000, police arrested six people and found that all had been released under the amnesty.
Breaks into rolling laughter:
a man who was released early from a 10-year sentence for robbing 25 banks was back inside within a week after holding up several cashiers. He was arrested after one of them recognised him from an earlier hold-up.
Gasps for breath:
There were 194 bank robberies nationwide in the month before the amnesty was introduced last July. After the law was passed by Romano Prodi's centre-Left coalition that figure rose steadily, peaking at 332 in October - at an average of more than 10 a day.
Hoo-boy. The government! The crooks! The inadequately guarded banks! And then there's Piero:
The most serious case was in the northern city of Udine where plumber Piero Melis, 53, was released early from an eight-month sentence for attacking his wife Carla --only to be rearrested less than six hours later after allegedly trying to strangle her.
I'd curtsy if I could stop laughing:
Zadok
