The penitentiary centers of the Canary Islands housed 3,494 inmates at the end of last June, the highest number since September 2014, according to the latest report from the Canary Islands Institute of Statistics (ISTAC). And this translates into "overcrowding" in all penitentiary centers, except in La Palma, according to the spokesman for the Association of Bodies of the Penitentiary Institutions Administration (ACAIP), Joaquín Leyva.
In the case of the Tahíche prison, he states that it has a capacity of 236 places, but however it houses more than 350 inmates, with one of the worst data on the islands, especially in relation to its size. Tenerife II has 771 cells and there are more than 880 inmates; in Las Palmas II, 1,008 places, although there are several closed modules, which reduces the capacity to 828, but there are more than 950 inmates; and in Las Palmas I there are 730 inmates compared to an official capacity of 606.
Leyva stresses that these overcrowding rates, which are common in the Spanish penitentiary system, "greatly limit" the internal classification of inmates, and cause "almost all" cells to be doubled, when the law establishes that they must be for individual use.
The insular fact is also noticeable in the Canary Islands prisons, as it makes it difficult to transfer inmates, either to other islands or to the Peninsula, which ends up leading to "security problems" in the centers and episodes of aggression between inmates and officials.
Another peculiarity of the Canary Islands is that it is a "gateway" for immigration, which also has an impact on penitentiary institutions: people awaiting transfer or being returned to their countries of origin.
The ACAIP spokesman indicates that this could be one of the factors that explain the increase in inmates experienced in the Canary Islands since March 2021, against the downward trend in the rest of the country.
To the problem of overcrowding, Leyva adds that of the "endemic lack" of personnel, with a ratio that ranges between 70 and 80 inmates per official.
In addition, he asks to take into account that among the officials it is necessary to distinguish between administrative, health, management and security personnel.
