Over 230 ‘young people’ released from jail under papal amnesty

Over 230 young people have been released from jail in the past two months thanks to the ‘amnesty’ on certain minor crimes, decreed because of the Pope’s visit to Portugal in August. Another 630 have had their jail terms reduced under the terms of the amnesty, albeit they remain behind bars as they still have parts of their original sentences left to run. The amnesty applied to young people aged between 16 and 30 who committed crimes or offences before June 19 this year. It provided for a pardon of one year’s imprisonment for all offences up to eight years.