House Arrest or Prison? It Depends

We would all think that house arrest is always better than time in prison. In a prison, an inmate is confined to a small cell, the food is terrible, and there is always the possibility of violence. It should not even be a close decision. Nevertheless, house arrest for a defendant in Italy was pure hell in comparison to the harshness of prison. Last week, the Italian wire service ANSA reported that a 32-year-old man, Walid Chaabani, left his home intentionally in order to violate his house arrest sentence. He was convicted of drug-related charges.

Once he was in the custody of the police, he requested prison instead of house arrest. The police in the port city of Livorna stated “Living with his wife was particularly difficult and unbearable.” Chaabani supposedly told the police that he was tired of the nonstop fighting with his wife.

The court approved his desperate request immediately and ordered imprisonment the very same day. Mr. Chaabani, a Tunisian, is now hopefully happy serving out the remainder of his sentence in a prison located in Tuscan. Prison takes many forms.