The Ministry of Justice has expressed the first commitment in the open crisis with prison officials over the murder at the hands of an inmate of the head chef of the Tarragona prison. The department has committed to strengthening surveillance of prison kitchens after attending a meeting between the victim’s relatives and the CIRE Business Committee (Centre d’Iniciatives per la Reinserció), the entity that hired the victim. . According to sources from the meeting to the EFE agency, the Minister of Justice, Gemma Ubasart, and the Secretary of Penal Measures, Amand Calderó, attended the beginning of the meeting to offer their condolences to the family members and convey their support. Although five days after the murder, Justice has not yet explained what went wrong so that a man convicted of killing a woman with a knife was assigned to the prison kitchen, it has committed to providing greater security for workers. from the kitchen. “We have an investigation open and when we receive the result, we will be able to make an assessment of the fact,” the councilor justified in a press conference.
In the meeting with the works council, Justice has announced that the official staff assigned to guard the prisons will be increased, alert buttons will be enabled and the kitchen staff on some shifts will be increased. Both parties have agreed to review the security protocols of the facility and to facilitate CIRE representatives to participate in the treatment meetings where the prison itinerary of each inmate is decided.
In a statement, the kitchen staff of penitentiary institutions reported that they carried out their work “working directly with inmates armed with knives, axes and other tools” without any type of protection. “Our position is not even considered highly dangerous,” they criticized. And they added that “it escapes common sense” that they do not have the capacity to “remove or discard an inmate from service when he or she does not have the necessary skills or attitudes to work in these conditions” and they demanded that they be provided with “walkies, panic, or specific safety protocols. And they demanded that “no inmate with a blood crime or a violent profile be assigned to the kitchen, whether he has good behavior or not.”
Prison officials managed to close the main entrances to most centers early in the morning. However, in La Roca del Vallès, a greater device by the Mossos d’Esquadra has prevented access to the premises from being blocked, allowing the entry and exit of workers who do not support the protest. In the Joves and Brians 2 prisons, although with minimal staff, it has been possible to allow inmates to leave their cells. The rest remain confined.
According to the data provided by the Department of Justice, a total of 4,014 inmates from 7 Catalan prisons cannot leave their cells. Thus, by center, it is as follows: 1034 prisoners remain locked up in Brians 1, in Sant Esteve de Ses Rovires (Barcelona); 793, in Mas d’Enric (El Catllar, Tarragona); 717, in Puig de les Basses (Figueres, Girona); 625, in Ponent (Leida); 106, in the women’s prison of Wad Ras, in the city of Barcelona, ??and 802 in Lledoners (Sant Joan de Vilatorrada, Barcelona).
The protest has also had an impact on the administration of justice since last Thursday. According to the ministry, 119 judicial dismissals have been annulled. Specifically, 41 oral trials, 18 judicial video conferences and 60 proceedings have been suspended. 8 transfers to go to trial have also been annulled. The Consell de l’Advocacia de Catalunya has criticized that “the legitimate right to protest should in no case prevent the exercise of the right to defense by legal professionals” and they demand that the authorities “take the necessary measures to resolve the conflict urgently and prevent a situation like this from being repeated in the future.
Meanwhile, the positions to establish a dialogue between the Government and unions remain entrenched. The Department of Justice continues not to assume any responsibility for the murder of the cook at the Tarragona prison and the unions demand the resignation of the Secretary of Penal Measures whom they accuse of having favored the defenselessness of prison workers with his policies. In an appearance before the media this Monday he warned that officials and workers who do not go to their jobs “are exposed to a disciplinary file.”
The protests occur without an official strike call and therefore, the protesters would be failing to fulfill their obligations. “It is a worrying situation because it affects the rights and safety of workers and inmates,” lamented the councilor, Gemma Ubasart. The secretary of penal measures, Amand Calderó, has denied that they are considering replacing officials or workers with other employees or even with mossos d’esquadra to recover normality in the centers. “We are not considering anything else, because there is no need,” he said.
In Quatre Camins, a hundred or so officials maintained the protest after 8:00 a.m. The strong police presence allowed the entry and exit of officials and other workers at the center, but did not prevent scenes of tension. At the gates of the prison, six interns who were working a 40-hour shift have been forced to return by order of the director, Domingo Estepa. Union spokesmen have assured that these workers were threatened by the prison director that their contract would not be renewed unless they returned to their jobs.
The person in charge of the center has denied access to the premises of an ambulance with health workers who had been alerted after two of the interim workers suffered an anxiety attack due to the tension of the moment. This center is one of the few that has been able to open the cells but on a holiday basis, with suspension of activities and without scheduled departures.
