The prisoners involved in extremely violent crimessuch as murder or serious injury, they will not be able to work in the kitchens of Catalan prisons or in workshops where they have to handle dangerous instruments.
The Minister of Justice, Ramon Espadaler, explained that there had been reviewed the circulars which regulate the access of prisoners to jobs in prisons to integrate the new measure, which prohibits prisoners who have committed blood crimes from being employed in kitchens, both criminal and preventive.
Prisoners’ access to jobs that involve handling dangerous instruments had been under surveillance since last March, when a prison cook Enric’s farmhouse in El Catllar (Tarragona) was murdered by a prisoner who worked with her and who was serving a sentence for murder.
The crime put the prison officials on war footing, who were keeping the ministry in suspense, on the eve of the last Catalan elections of the 12M, with a wave of mobilizations This has put a strain on prison facilities.
The previous team that led the Ministry of Justice, headed by former minister Gemma Ubasart, had prepared a new circular, which was due to come into force next October, which did not prevent prisoners involved in blood crimes from working in the kitchens provided they meet a series of good conduct requirements.
Espadaler, who at the end of last month appointed Elena Pérez as head of the General Secretariat of Penal Measures – replacing Amand Calderó, who was highly contested by the prison unions – promoted the new protocol, which comes into force this Monday, seeking a “balance” between the security of establishments and the objective of reintegrating prisoners.
“It’s about balancing two equally important issues, occupational safety of civil servants and the rights of prisoners, and preserve something substantial, which is coexistence in the centers,” explained the mayor.
For Espadaler, it is a “common sense” measure because it is difficult to understand that someone who commits violent crimes, sometimes with knives, resulting in death or serious injury, could work with certain tools, such as knives.
The minister insists that the “ultimate meaning” of prison is rehabilitation, as provided for in the Constitution itself: “It is a pairing that we can never lose sight of, the security of the centres, but also the living conditions of prisoners”.
Other conditions established by the new circular for access to jobs considered to present a particular risk are that the prisoner presents a low level of risk of violence or criminal recidivism. In the case of inmates who were placed in solitary confinement for committing a certain type of incident, they will be required to spend one year without any disciplinary record being opened.
