Italian begs cops to jail him

ROME: For some, going to prison can feel like escaping to freedom.

A man under house arrest in Italy showed up at a police barracks asking to be put behind bars because life with his wife at home was unbearable, police said yesterday.

The 30-year-old Albanian citizen living in Guidonia Montecelio, outside Rome, “was no longer able to cope with the forced cohabitation with his wife”, Carabinieri from Tivoli said in a statement.

“Exasperated, he preferred to escape, presenting himself to ask to serve his sentence behind bars,” they wrote.

The man had been under house arrest for drug crimes for several months and had a few years left to serve, Captain Francesco Giacomo Ferrante of the Tivoli Carabinieri said.

“He lived at home with his wife and family. It wasn’t going well.

“He said, ‘Listen, my domestic life has become hell, I can’t do it anymore, I want to go to jail’.”

The man was promptly arrested for violating his house arrest and judicial authorities ordered his transfer to prison.