Two years ago, Martí Cots Saleta, a criminal known as the Rambo of Cerdanya for the violence and danger of his robberies, spent three hours digging a hole in the wall of his cell in the hospitalization unit psychiatric prison (UHPP) of Brians 1, intended to stabilize prisoners with severe mental health problems. The prisoner managed to move to the adjoining cell, occupied by a 22-year-old prisoner, also a psychiatric patient, with whom he spent the night.
On that occasion, the prisoner used the metal guides of the drawer in his cell to make his way to the neighboring room. The incident was repeated again, this time in the Ponent prison, in Lleida, where a prisoner managed to open a large hatch on Saturday night to access the neighboring cell. His intention, as he admitted to the officials who managed to reduce him, was to kill the other inmate, with whom he had engaged in a loud argument shouting through the windows.
This Saturday, around ten o’clock at night and coinciding with the shift change of officials, an intern of the special closed regime department (DERT) took part in a serious incident. The Spaniard Raúl G., linked to the radical organization Casuals, tore the radiator from the cell and, starting from the hole, used one of the pieces of metal that held it to open a trap door the wall For several minutes he chipped at the cement and broke bricks until he managed to open a hole six centimeters high by forty wide.
A hole that communicated directly with the cell where Aouladell R was locked up. In one of the communiques released yesterday, the union CC.OO. he assured that the first managed to insert his arm through the hole and ended up injuring his rival with the metal piece, when the latter tried to defend himself and prevent the Spaniard from accessing his passenger compartment.
Banging and screaming alerted officers on duty Saturday night in Ponent. The intervention team had to access the cell to reduce the inmate, who was very disturbed, violent and threatening them with the metal piece. During the struggle, workers at the center suffered some injuries, but all were minor, according to sources at the center.
The inmate was taken to the Arnau hospital in Vilanova with injuries to his hands and was treated in the emergency department. At three in the morning, a Mossos d’Esquadra patrol from the penitentiary center returned him to prison, where he was readmitted to another DERT cell.
Several unions of prison officials assured yesterday that the Ponent incident was not a one-time event and that it showed the dangerous nature of some profiles of prisoners with whom they deal on a daily basis. As well as the precariousness of some centres, such as Ponent. It was difficult to understand last night how in a cell that is understood to be armored and secure because it is intended precisely for the most violent prisoners, it could be violated with such ease.
On March 13, the head of the kitchen at Mas d’Enric prison, Núria López, was murdered by one of the inmates who worked under her command. Since then, the officials of the Catalan centers have kept the protests alive and demand political responsibilities and more security in their work.
