The violation of rights to which some Catalan prison officials have subjected thousands of inmates has gone unpunished. On July 4, the Ministry of Justice archived (still with the ERC government in power) the investigation opened last March into the blockade that employees carried out in several centers, without calling a strike, to protest the murder of a cook at the Mas d’Enric Prison (Tarragona) at the hands of an inmate.
As Catalunya Ràdio has reported and the Ministry of Justice has confirmed to this newspaper, no employee will be punished for the blockade of the penitentiary centres, which has forcibly locked up almost 4,000 prisoners in their cells and put a strain on the prisons. Nor for preventing the passage of other officials who wanted to go to work or for leading demonstrations without calling for a strike.
The opening of an internal investigation into the protests is contrary to the conclusions of the Greuges Union, which considered that the blockade “caused the massive violation of the fundamental rights of more than 4,000 prisoners.” In addition to having locked them in their cells “for no legal reason,” the commissioner considered that the detainees were not able to see their families during scheduled visits, but they were also unable to attend court proceedings, communicate with their lawyers or receive medical and psychiatric assistance.
Human rights entities and relatives of the prisoners considered the opening of the investigation by the justice system to be “very serious”. In a statement, the organizations denounced the fact that the Justice system conducted this investigation without citing or notifying any procedure to the complainants.
The entities denounced the ministry’s double standard in punishing prisoners when they commit disciplinary infractions but leaving unpunished the behavior of public officials “who have seriously renounced their duties.” “No one would imagine using children in schools or sick patients in hospitals to carry out similar actions,” they said.
In the interests of transparency and accountability, the entities have requested that the investigation and final resolution be requested through the Justice Committee of the Parliament. The signatory entities include Justícia i Pau, the Association of Prisoners’ Families of Catalonia, the Institute of Human Rights of Catalonia, Alerta Solidària, the Observatory of the Penal System and Human Rights of the University of Barcelona, Irídia, the Anti-Repression Network of Prisoners’ Relatives and Observa.
