Spain: Basque prisons
01 March 1996
This was the forthright conclusion of the Basque Ombudsman in the report on prisons presented to the Basque Parliament on 12 March 1996. There are currently at least 1,541 prisoners in the region, including 340 foreigners, although the proper capacity of the system is half of that, with 842 cells. The report is particularly critical of the isolation and lack of information in the prison system, of its separation from wider society, and of the lack of resources and organisational deficiencies in the prisons and other agencies dealing with prisoners. Two other issues are identified as central to the whole question of the denial or restriction of the basic rights of prisoners: the sharp contrast between the reality of prison and the model envisaged by law, and the combination of widespread drug abuse and poor living conditions, creating high rates of infectious disease within the prisons. In theory all prisoners have the right to work, but in practice only one-fifth are offered work. Only 10% of prisoners detained in the Basque Country are in the lowest-security "grade three" regime, which was intended by law to apply to the majority.
The Ombudsman proposes five strategies to deal with this situation. These include increased use of day release and release on licence; the wider application of alternative sentencing measures provided for in the new Penal Code, such as fines and community service; the reduction of grade one prisoners to the minimum, and a significant reduction in grade two; the creation of small specialist centres or homes outside the prison system, to cater for young offenders, drug abusers and prisoners suffering from illness; giving full effect to the right to work, and the right to study; and a substantial increase in resources, not only in material and staffing terms but in the development of participatory systems involving prisoners, staff, the voluntary sector and welfare networks outside the penal environment, all of this enhancing the transparency of the prison system and its relationship with the outside world. The overall strategic approach is given practical expression in 57 separate recommendations to the relevant public bodies.
Salhaketa, the long-established group working with social prisoners, gave a guarded welcome to the report. Since the problems set out are precisely those which Salhaketa itself has been denouncing for years, it suspected that the report would merely end up gathering dust. The group added that the underlying message of the report was that prison was becoming ever more an instrument of punishment rather than rehabilitation.
Kontrola Kontrolpean, Euskadi (Spain)