A prison officer from the Tahíche prison was "seriously injured" last Monday, April 22, by an inmate's attack. According to the union Your abandonment can kill me (TAMPM), the inmate stuck his teeth into one of the worker's arms for more than 30 seconds, until his colleagues managed to free him.
According to the union, "after several minutes of struggle, the prisoner was handcuffed and, maintaining his state of agitation and violence, continued threatening to kill those present." The threats reached such a point that the inmate mentioned personal and particular aspects of the officials, such as the cars they have and in which they travel daily (including color) and family members; in the latter case, he openly threatened to murder the son of one of the officials present in the action.
"Moments before the aggression, the inmate, with the clear intention of forcing his departure to the hospital, reports having ingested several blades and small sharp objects; for this reason, despite being aware of the coercion to which they are subjected one more day, he is referred to a hospital to carry out the appropriate tests," the union pointed out. In addition, they explain that "due to the delay in carrying them out, he requests voluntary discharge to return to the prison where he stages an attack against the night shift officials just at the moment of taking his fingerprint. Specifically, the inmate threw the fingerprint reader itself along with other elements of the furniture that were within his reach at them. It is precisely when they tried to reduce him that he launched himself to attack the official."
Medical leave for at least six months
The assaulted official was first treated by the prison health services, requiring him to be referred to the Hospital later. From the union they explain that due to the bite he is on medical leave, "but also the Biological Accidents Protocol has been opened, which will mean for him and his family an agonizing wait that will last at least 6 months, until the last of the tests rules out any possible contagion of diseases such as hepatitis or HIV that we so frequently find in this environment."
From the workers' union they denounce that this aggression is thanks to the indolent policies of the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions."
"From this union, exclusive to prisons, we want to emphasize that given the numerous regimental incidents carried out by the inmate, both with a large part of the prison population and officials, his transfer to another prison has been requested repeatedly. Far from attending to the demands made from the prison management, the SGIIPP and, therefore, Mr. Ortiz (the highest leader of the same) ignoring these requests, have created a totally unsustainable situation in which, as expressed below, it is the public workers who pay in the worst possible way for the inaction to which our leaders have subjected us," they state.
Finally, TAMPM considers that "this attack joins those that were communicated a few days ago in the penitentiary centers of Salto del Negro and Juan Grande in Gran Canaria, which demonstrates the escalation of aggressions towards officials that are taking place in Spanish prisons, so we continue to demand their status as authority agents and consider their work as a profession of risk, among other demands." They also remember "the lack of both material and personal resources (in the health and surveillance area) that Spanish prisons suffer and that facilitate this type of incident of great severity."
