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Spain
Prison and Probation Service
National Population:
47 415 750
EuroPris Member:
Yes
Penal Institutions:
71
Quick Stats
Imprisonment Rate per 100,000:
125
Total Prisoner Population:
50 187
Total available prisoner places:
72 992
Official design capacity:
64 514
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Annual Report 2021
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Feature Article: A New Approach for Open Prisons in Spain (2023)
Author: Carlos Fernández Gómez (Spanish Prison Governor and Spanish liaison of EuroPris) March, 2023 Spanish Penitentiary Organic Law (1979) establishes three levels of judicial sentences served in prison: level 1, for high-risk inmates is served in closed units (isolation); level 2 for common inmates is served in common and closed prisons; and level 3 is an open regime where sentences are served in Social Insertion Centers (SIC) or open prisons, (the terms are used interchangeably below). Here, people can leave the prison for some hours a day to work, attend intervention programmes, training courses or manage personal issues such as medical appointments. Traditionally, prisoners have been transferred to an SIC from ordinary prisons because their behaviour is good or they have a low risk of re-offending (a process known as “penitentiary progression”). In 2021, an internal directive (6/2020) was published, including relevant changes to this process. The Directive allows people sentenced to prison to enter an SIC directly with no need for progression from ordinary prisons and so avoiding some of the damaging side effects of imprisonment by serving the sentence in the community. Conditions are needed. This change has also resulted in an interesting difference in the way the open regime is understood and managed. Key words: open-regime, open prison, penitentiary progression, direct entry, community, Social Insertion Center (SIC). Introduction Spanish Prison Rules (1996) and the General Organic Law (1979), describe three levels of penal sentences: closed units, common and closed prisons and Social Insertion Centers (SIC) or open prisons. The first is for certain criminal typologies such as terrorism, and to individuals who show extreme bad behaviour, and so pose a significant risk to prison staff and other prisoners. As it implies isolation for most of the day, this situation is reviewed every three months. The second, understood as an ordinary regime, includes the majority of the Spanish prison population. In this case, their situation is reviewed every six months. According to the assessments and observations carried out by psycho-social staff, progression is possible. Progression takes place from the first level to the second, and from the second to the third, which is the open regime, and implies the transfer to Social Insertion Centers (SIC). These centers are also prisons and belong to the Spanish General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions, in the same way as ordinary prisons. They can also be called open prisons. It is not mandatory to go through that progressive pathway. This means a prisoner can start serving a sentence in the first or the second level and not transferred to the SIC and so finally being released from the ordinary prison. In other cases, individuals are transferred to open prisons following their good behaviour or being at a low risk of reoffending and are finally released from the open-regime. Until now, it has not been possible to begin serving the sentence at a SIC. This is because initial classification, delivered no later than two months after arrival at the prison, has always classified individuals mainly in second or occasionally first level. Open regime has always been the final step of the penal pathway for those benefitting from this progression. Background Spanish Prison Rules and the General Organic Law, as well as some internal directives, clarify and describe the “classification process” when someone enters the prison system. Ours is not a strict progressive model, but there are some similarities: it is not possible to be progressed from first to third level, and, until now, it was not possible to enter a SIC directly as progression from an ordinary prison was needed. Open regime has been understood as the final step of the personal process before full reintegration into society. Doubts about penitentiary progression have been common amongst prison staff, particularly treatment staff (psychologists, educators, social workers and jurists). The open regime and the entry into SIC have been considered a “benefit”, as if imprisonment had come to an end. The fact that SIC are also prisons but with fewer security measures and more flexibility, has been underrated in some cases, and the open regime wrongly understood as a “gift” to the prisoner. However, SIC are under the same prison rules and do not include release. At the same time, we have considered the ordinary regime as the only one that can provide effective treatment for individuals. This is totally true in most cases where deprivation of liberty and custody are also needed. We all agree strict control is necessary, but not in all cases. Spanish Prison Rules are founded on the “individualization” principle: the individual must always be studied and classified according to his or her needs to avoid the “one-size-fits-all” approach. Taking this into consideration, it is true that the ordinary regime has proved to be a useful framework for rehabilitation and re-education programmes, as well as control and custody. On the other hand, the open regime must enable individuals to start living in close contact with the community. Some questions arise. Is ordinary prison necessary in all cases? Is ordinary prison avoidable in other cases? Why should someone go to an ordinary prison if the open regime is the better choice? Is treatment equally effective in open prisons for some criminal profiles? Is ordinary imprisonment, with some of its damaging side effects, really necessary in all cases? Why wait for the progression if it is better for a prisoner to be in an open prison from the very beginning? Body Directive 6/2020 supports, for the first time, that individuals may enter the SIC to serve their prison sentence without the need to go to an ordinary prison as a first step. Some conditions are specified in the Directive, the most relevant being:
Click here to read Directive 6/2020 (Spanish) Click on the download button below to view the article in pdf. |
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Directive 2/2020
Directive aimed at the suspension of judicial sentence due to mental disease. |
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Compilation of court decisions. Exit prison permit.
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Revista Penitenciaria
Annual publication on penitentiary actual issues. |
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Compilation of court decisions. Conditional release and alternative measures.
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Compilation of court decisions. Sanctions.
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Compilation of court decisions. Family visits.
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Premio Nacional Victoria Kent
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Gender Intervention with offenders.
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Intervention Programme. Sexual offenders.
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Intervention Programme. Foreigners.
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Intervention Programme. Mental Illness.
Based on penitantiary and community participation. |
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Intervention Programme. Violent behaviour.
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Intervention Programme. Hate crimes.
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Annual report 2017
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Annual report 2018
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Address: Calle Alcala 38-40 Ministerio del Interior, 28014 Madrid
Telephone: 0034913354985
Excelentísimo Señor Don Ángel Luis Ortiz González
Position: Secretario General of Prisons and Detention Houses
Appointed since: 19/06/2019