The number of inmates in Iran has dramatically increased in the past decades, leading to the crisis of prison overcrowding. Either being an outcome of socio-economic policies or over-criminalization, the policy makers have lately perceived the crisis and sought solutions. Granting amnesty to the convicted has been a convenient solution, which temporarily evacuates the prisons, but has been criticized since Beccaria. Enact of laws that allow judicial to cease the criminal claim or avoid the imprisonment penalty have been another solution. This attitude has been reflected in the 2013 Penal and Criminal Procedure Acts in which the number of such authorities has vastly increased. However, the judges are reluctant to apply them. The 2020 Act of Reduction of the Ta’zir Imprisonment Punishments has reduced the imprisonment of some crimes, making lots of others forgivable and shrinking the minimum and maximum of the imprisonment to half and developing the mitigating conditions of punishment and applying leniencies. The Act seems too hasty to decarcerate. The lack of theoretical basis, over-criminalization and lack of consistency in the macro policies are barriers to solve the prison overcrowding crisis in Iran which will be examined and compared with the approaches in European countries like France.
