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Spain

Capital city — Madrid

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Number of complaints filed by prisoners against the prison service

792

i
2021
/ Defensor del Pueblo, Datos estadísticos y presupuestarios p.15.

  • Although Minorca Prison has the lowest prison population on the Balearic Islands, it receives more complaints than the archipelago’s other prisons. Over the last five years, 256 complaints were filed, for an average of 52 per year. The complaints mainly related to the prison service’s refusal to grant leave or to reclassify prisoners as “third-degree prisoners”, despite repeated requests from the prison’s occupants.

    i
    25/03/2024
    / Menorca.info

Number of violent acts against prison staff

300

i
2022
/ OKDiario, Semana negra en las prisiones españolas: 12 agresiones a funcionarios en cuatro cárceles

Official statistics put the number of attacks in 2022 at more than 300, double the figure for the previous year.

The union SCIF reports that in 2022, 577 prison officers were victims of serious or minor assault in Catalonia, an increase of 48.6% compared with 2021.

In May 2023, the Trade Union Confederation of Workers’ Commissions (Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) indicated that 90% of attacks on staff seem to be due to poor care management of mental disorders and staff’s lack of training in handling these situations.

  • Two prison officers at Ponent Prison in Lleida sustained minor injuries from a prisoner after they separated him from another prisoner during an altercation.

    i
    24/03/2024
    / Infobae.com

  • Over 1,200 prisoners were held in their cells from the evening of Thursday, 14 March to the evening of Saturday, 16 March in three prisons in Catalonia. The prison staff restricted access in response to the killing of a cook by a prisoner. They noted that they were not protesting against the prisoners, but against the poor working conditions created by the Catalonian government. Only essential services were provided, such as food service and medical care. Certain relatives were granted access.

    i
    16/03/2024
    / Catalan News

  • A prisoner assigned to kitchen work at Mas d’Enric Prison in El Catllar killed the facility’s cook and himself. The event set off a serious crisis among the prison staff. A series of strikes and protests took place around the country. Staff members criticised poor working conditions, staff shortages and lack of security in prisons.

    i
    13/03/2024
    / El Periódico

The prison service is required to meet nutritional standards regarding quality and quantity

yes

Meals consist of a starter, main course and dessert.

  • The Ministry of the Interior drew up a statement of work estimated at 12.8 million euros to ensure that meals served in prison are varied and balanced, with sufficient portion sizes.

    i
    14/02/2024
    / The Objective

Suicide prevention policies are implemented

yes

A national training programme for prisoners enabling them to support fellow prisoners at risk of suicide has been in operation since 2005. These prisoners are trained by psychologists and have been nicknamed “guardian angels“. The Ombudsman referred to a case of suicide in 2017, in which the individual at risk was placed in an observation cell, with increased supervision and a fellow prisoner to offer support. The individual committed suicide while their companion was asleep. The Ombudsman stressed the responsibility of the penitentiary administration to enact suicide prevention policies and discouraged the delegation of this responsibility to prisoners1. The SGIP has created a suicide prevention programme, which has been implemented in 70 penitentiary facilities under its administration. The DGSP does not have a similar programme but plans to enact one in its prisons2.

  1. Ombudsman, “2017 Annual Report”, 2018, p. 168. (In Spanish) ↩

  2. Ombudsman, “2017 Annual Report of the NPM”, 2018, p. 169. (in Spanish) ↩

  • Staff members at Brians 2 Prison initiated the anti-suicide protocol for the football player Dani Alves, who is being held in remand detention.

    i
    18/02/2024
    / Mundo Deportivo

Means of restraint (handcuffs, chains or body restraints, etc.) are used when transferring prisoners to high security units following an incident.

Minors in the Sogradio and Tierras de Oria prisons have reported being slapped and hit by staff. The CPT notes the use of mechanical constraint on agitated minors . Some minors at the Tierras de Orias prison were immobilised on their stomach while attached to a bed for several hours. They were not allowed access to a toilet.

The CPT reported, in 2017, that fixation is used for prolonged periods without adequate supervision. It is used as a punitive measure, following verbal aggression or passive resistance from prisoners. The CPT warns of a risk of inhuman and degrading treatment, particularly when the fixation is used on prisoners with mental disorders.1 The Spanish Ombudsman also reported in 2018 that a prisoner with serious mental disorders held at the Soria detention centre in Catalonia was placed under mechanical restraint for a very long period. No medical supervision occurred while the measure was being carried out.2 The CPT observed that mechanical fixation was used 126 times in the correctional facilities of Catalonia in the first nine months of 2018. Medical staff carried out visual checks at regular intervals.3

Following its visits in December 2021, the CPT highlighted “considerable progress” concerning mechanical fixation and the duration of its application. In 2022, the MNP made the same observation, except in facilities managed by the Catalan prison administration.4

  1. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Report to the Spanish Government on the visit to Spain carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 27 September to 10 October 2016, November 2017, p.39. ↩

  2. Spanish Ombudsman, 2018 Annual Report, 2019, p.100 (in Spanish). ↩

  3. European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), Report to the Spanish Government on the visit to Spain carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 6 to 13 September 2018, February 2020, p. 41. ↩

  4. Ombudsman, “2022 Annual Report - Volume I”, 2023, p. 353. (in Spanish) ↩

  • Mechanical restraints with straps were used on 1,282 occasions in Spanish prisons in 2023. This method of restraint is primarily used in Catalonia (923 applications recorded). On 59 occasions, restraint lasted over 24 hours.

    i
    20/02/2024
    / El Salto

Number of medical staff (FTE)

1,540

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31/01/2023
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I Report 2023, table 19.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) reports, in 2020, a lack of health care staff. The report highlights the lack of nurses and doctors in detention as well as the lack of psychiatrists and psychologists. Overall, the report states poor working conditions for medical staff. The CSIF explains this staff shortage with the low wages for prison doctors compared to those of their colleagues outside of prison.
In August 2022, 67% of vacant posts for doctors in detention were not filled. There are 148 regular posts occupied, 40 temporary posts and 3 student interns, i.e. less than 200 doctors for more than 55,000 detainees. In 2021 and 2022, the Ministry of the Interior opened 80 new posts for health staff. 11 have been filled. The doctors are critical of the precarious nature of temporary contracts, the lack of qualifications and training for temporary staff, and the widespread stress caused by the difficult working conditions.

In Andalusia, 75% of prisons have recourse to private contracts to make up for the shortage of doctors. In May 2023, 65 job posts have been open in the prison medical sector. Cádiz and Seville have 15 vacant posts; Malaga, 11; and Granada, 7.

The Palma penitentiary centre holds 1,000 prisoners. Although the medical staff should include nine people, it is typically only two. This shortage leads to increasingly frequent transfers to exterior facilities, resulting in security and budget problems. The prison facility requested the transfer of healthcare responsibilities to the autonomous communities.

In December 2022, the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions (SGIP) acknowledges a “shortage of medical professionals in certain prisons”, making it impossible to “guarantee the provision of medical care 24 hours a day”. The government is introducing teleconsultations with in-house professionals assigned to other establishments as a response to the shortage.

  • The CSIF (Central Sindical Independiente y de Funcionarios), a Spanish public service union, is raising the alarm over the lack of medical personnel at Puerto III Prison. The facility should have 12 doctors, but it only has 3.

    i
    12/01/2024
    / Diario de Cádiz

Number of deaths in custody

252

i
2022
/ Council of Europe, SPACE I Report 2023, table 28.

  • Overdoses are the second leading cause of unnatural deaths – after suicide – in detention. Overdose deaths accounted for 43% of unnatural deaths between 2017 and 2021. The Pontevedra, Seville and Cádiz prisons recorded the highest numbers of deaths related to drug use.

    i
    13/01/2024
    / Público