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Spain

Capital city — Madrid

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Panorama

Overview

Prison population

Incarceration rate (per 100,000 inhabitants)

116

i
2022
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

The authorities publish official statistics on prison population

on a regular basis, monthly

The prison service has a computerised record keeping system

yes

Total number of prisoners

55,093

i
01/2022
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

Variation in the number of prisoners

decrease

i
2020
/ European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) 2020 Report pg. 29

The number of prisoners decreased by 5.62% between January 2020 (58,372)1 and January 2022 (55,093).

  1. Council of Europe, SPACE I, 2020 Report, p. 33, table 3. ↩

Number of people serving non-custodial sentences

71,745

i
01/2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE II, 2021 Report, p. 31.

Variation in the number of people serving non-custodial sentences

increase

The number of people serving non-custodial sentences increased by 5.58% between January 2020 (67,950)1 and January 2021 (71,745).

  1. Council of Europe, SPACE II, 2020 Report, p. 31. ↩

Variation in the incarceration rate

decrease

i
2020
/ European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) 2020 Report, p. 29.

The incarceration rate decreased by 5.69% between 2020 (123)1 and 2022 (116).

  1. Council of Europe, SPACE I, 2020 Report, p. 33, table 3. ↩

Number of admissions

30,108

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 104.

Number of releases

32,001

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 104.

Average length of imprisonment (in months)

22.1

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 121.

Variation in the average length of imprisonment

increase

Prison density

73.7 %

i
01/2022
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

  • Puerto III is the most overpopulated facility of the prisons managed by SGIP. 1,300 people are held there despite an operational capacity of 1,008 people. This level of overpopulation leads to incidents and security issues.

    i
    20/12/2023
    / Diario de Cádiz

Variation in the prison density

increase

The occupancy rate increased by 4.1% between 2020 (70.8)1 and 2022 (73.7).

  1. Council of Europe, SPACE I - 2020 Report, p. 73. ↩

The proportion (%) in 2018 of convicted persons by the length of their sentence is1:

  • Less than a month: 0.1%
  • Between one to three months: 0.3%
  • Between three and six months: 3.2%
  • Between six months and one year: 5.9%
  • Between one and three years: 19.4%
  • Between three and five years: 21%
  • Between five and ten years: 27%
  • Between ten and twenty years: 18.2%
  • Twenty years or more: 4.5%

  1. European Council, “Annual Prison Statistics. Space I- Prison Populations Survey 2018, 2019, p. 49. ↩

  • The reoffending rate in Catalonia dropped by 9% between 2014 and 2020. The Centre for Studies and Specialised Training says that it is stabilising at 21%. The lowest reoffending rates are for sexual offences (5.3%) and drug-related offences (5.5%). The highest rate is for non-violent property offences (38.4%). The centre concluded that gradually reducing constraints, in particular in a semi-custodial regime, is the best way to prevent reoffending.

    i
    31/03/2023
    / Europapress

The country has been condemned by an international court for its prison overcrowding

no

The prison population has been decreasing since 2010 (for the exception of last year). This decline can be explained by the growing number of non-custodial sentences. Legislative reforms have also reduced the length of sentences for certain infractions. An increase has, however, been observed in the last year.

A supervisory body has issued a decision on prison overcrowding

yes

The CPT (Council for the Prevention of Torture) has commented on the efforts made by Spanish authorities to combat prison overcrowding. The prison population is, however, unevenly distributed. Some establishments or units remain overpopulated.

Several important reforms to the Penal Code were enacted in 2010, intended to:

  • Lower the maximum lengths of sentences and reduce the number of incarcerated persons. The adjustment to sentences principally concerned drug offences and serious road safety infractions.
  • Develop alternative sentences, such as community service
  • Introduce the principle of “proportionality” in relation to the severity of an infraction, and to decrease the frequency at which people awaiting trial are imprisoned.

There were 58,971 people in prison in January 2019. There were 76, 079 in December 2009.

Organisation

Name of authority in charge of the prison service

  • Minister of the Interior for all autonomous communities
  • Department of Justice for Catalonia

Budget of the prison service

2,080,101,681

Dollars - 1.869 million Euros

i
2019
/ Ministry of Justice

The prison service outsources the management of the facilities to private companies, either partially or fully

yes

Peripheral security is privatised. The pilot project, introduced in 2013, involved 21 facilities. It was extended to the remaining prisons in October 2014. The budget allocated to this project is 48 million euros. The Association for Penitentiary Administration (Agrupación de los Cuerpos de la Administración de Instituciones Penitenciarias, ACAIP) has been strongly critical of this initiative which it deems costly and ineffective. The union has denounced the links between the Popular Party (PP) and security companies.

The Spanish penitentiary system comes under two administrations:

  • The General Secretariat for Penitentiary Institutions (SGIP), for all the autonomous communities (with the exception of Catalonia). It is under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior.
  • The General Directorate for Penitentiary Services (DGSP) for Catalonia. This falls under the supervision of the Department of Justice.

A joint committee facilitates coordination between the two administrations.

Detention conditions vary according to the managing authority of a facility (SGIP or DGSP), the age of the building, and the prison regime.

  • As of 1 October 2021, the Basque Executive is responsible for the management of prisons in its territory.

    i
    The Objective

The prison regime operates on a system of classification:

  • First Grade: this concerns potentially dangerous prisoners. A closed, high-security regime is imposed. This can also apply to prisoners on provisionary detention.
  • Second Grade: this concerns prisoners placed in the ordinary closed regime.
  • Third Grade: this concerns prisoners who receive a regime of partial liberty. Assignation of this grade is subject to consideration of a prisoner’s personal situation (parenthood, illness, etc), the seriousness of their crime, and their behaviour.

Prison facilities

Penitentiary establishments are divided into four categories:

  • Closed facilities, of which SGIP oversees 69, and DGSP oversees 9.
  • Centres for social integration, semi-open facilities, pf which SGIP oversees 56 and DGSP oversees four.
  • Units for mothers, of which SGIP oversees three.
  • Penitentiary psychiatric hospitals, numbering two for SGIP and one for DGSP.

Total number of prison facilities

82

i
2022
/ Infoprision

Total official capacity of the prison facilities

74,741

i
01/2022
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

Variation in the capacity of the prison facilities

decrease

The size of facilities varies markedly. The largest complexes accommodate over a thousand prisoners, such as the prison of Sevilla I-Morón de la Frontera, or Madrid VII-Estremera. On the other hand, some facilities have fewer than 100 places. The prison of Cuenca has only 60 cells.

Prison facilities are accessible by public transport

most facilities

Most Spanish prisons are located far from the city centre. The Modelo, a prison for men located in the centre of Barcelona, was an exception, until it was closed in 2017. The women’s open penitentiary centre Wad-Ras, is located in the centre of Barcelona.

Staff

Number of prison guards (FTE)

23,142

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 89.

Variation in the number of prison guard positions

increase

Le nombre de surveillants augmente de 24,9 % entre janvier 2020 (18 532)1 et janvier 2021 (23 142).

  1. Conseil de l’Europe, SPACE I – Rapport 2020, p. 83. ↩

Guard to prisoner ratio

1 : 2.4

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 93.

Number of socio-educational workers (FTE)

1,895

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 89.

There are two categories of social and education workers :

  • Psychologists and professionals in charge of evaluating prisoners : 941 (717 under SGIP and 224 under DGPS).
  • Social workers, teachers and educators in charge of educational activities : 2,163 (1,488 under SGIP and 675 under DGPS).

Percentage of socio-educational workers in relation to the entire prison staff

6.5 %

i
2021
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I – 2021 Report, p. 92.

The prison staff is represented by (a) union(s)

yes

The two main trade unions are:

  • The Association of Penitentiary Administration (ACAIP), the most influential organisation
  • The Professional Association of Prison Officers (APFP)

Several prison unions have denounced their working conditions, particularly with regard to violence, understaffing and lack of security means. They have also been critical for several years of the lack of dialogue with the authorities to improve their working conditions.

  • The unions ACAIP-UGT and CSIF criticised the poor working conditions for staff at Puerto III due to staff shortages. They called for prison management to re-establish communication with staff representatives.

    i
    20/12/2023
    / Diario de Cádiz

  • Several unions (CCOO, CSIF, APFP, ACAIP-UGT) have denounced two assaults at Logroño and Badajoz facilities. The union ACAIP-UGT says this figure is significantly lower than the reality of the situation. It called for the acceleration of the revision process of Article 80 of the General Law for Prison Organisation (Ley Orgánica General Penitenciaria). The unions want prison staff to be seen as authority figures.

    i
    07/05/2023
    / Europapress

  • In February 2023, prison service unions requested the reclassification of Spanish prisons, as well as changes to the organisational model and working conditions. The ACAIP-UGT has condemned staff shortages, estimating the need for 4,000 additional workers in state-run prisons.

    i
    16/02/2023
    / El Periódico

Future prison wardens are required to pass an exam and undertake training to join the prison staff. There are three qualifying exercises: a personality evaluation, a knowledge test, and a medical examination. The selected wardens undergo rotation training. To sit the exam, there are several prerequisites: potential recruits must have Spanish nationality, hold a bachelor’s or vocational degree, and have never been sentenced to a prison term of more than three years.
The prison staff association Tu abandono me puede matar denounce the significant costs charged to staff members to access the mandatory training before assignment to prison facilities. These costs include lodging and amenities relating to the five-week stay.

  • A programme designed to address discrimination based on gender, age, ethnic background, and disability among staff members was introduced in 2018, following the guidelines of the NPM. This initiative was broadened in 2021 to include psychiatric hospitals and institutions for minors (CIMI), and further extended to police precincts in 2022.

    i
    09/2023
    / Defensor del Pueblo (MNP)

As of January 2018, different roles in the prison administration are carried out by 24, 844 members of staff. Wardens represent 62% of the workforce. Lawyers, psychologists, sociologists, teachers, social workers, healthcare professionals and youth workers make up the rest of the staff1. In their 2015 report, the ACAIP expressed their worries regarding the ageing workforce: 79% of prison employees were under the age of 40 in 1995, falling to 21% in 2015, when 40.9% of workers were over 50 years old. Many members of staff are approaching retirement. They frequently need sick days and cite workplace conditions as a major factor in this.

  1. European Council, “Annual Prison Statistics. Space I - Prison Populations Survey 2018”, 2019, pp. 75-77. ↩