Agencies
The Council of Ministers approved this Friday the creation of 18,000 new prison places in 46 new centers in the next six years, after the spectacular increase in the prison population in the last four years. Among them, the construction of a prison on the island of Fuerteventura, a decision that will generate controversy in the coming days but that will undoubtedly serve to relieve the Tahíche prison of the current burden it bears.
Between 2000 and 2004, the number of prisoners in Spanish prisons increased by 29 percent. "At the end of 2004, we had 51,222 inmates in our country for just over 38,000 cells or prison places, which represents 149% overcrowding," said the Minister of the Interior, José Antonio Alonso, at the press conference after the ministerial meeting.
Alonso indicated that with the Plan for the Creation and Amortization of Penitentiary Centers, the Government for the period 2006-2012 was committed to the constitutional principle of reintegration, which defends the idea of one prisoner per cell. "Firstly, for a matter of justice, but also for a reason of convenience and utility, because every reinserted criminal ceases to be one and citizen security is gained," he commented.
The Interior Ministry currently manages 66 penitentiary centers, so Spain will have 112 prison infrastructures and 56,000 places within six years.
The modernization of Spanish prisons also aims to have "greater control of terrorism" and of prisoners related to these crimes who, together with those of organized crime, are usually the most conflictive and dangerous.
Within the reintegration policy, the plan foresees placing greater emphasis on young people and mothers, as well as avoiding the geographical and social uprooting of prisoners, according to the council's references. Of the 46 new centers, 11 will be under ordinary regime - four of them of large dimensions -, 30 of social reintegration and 5 mother units.
Although four of these new centers will be built in the Basque Country or nearby communities, the Minister of the Interior said that "it has nothing to do with the Government's prison policy in the fight against terrorism." Specifically, according to what is planned by the Government, the prisons will be built in Andalusia, Ceuta, Valencian Community, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Guipúzcoa, Menorca, Murcia, Navarra, Basque Country and Soria. The investment for the construction of the new prisons is 1,647 million euros, which is added to the 1,500 million euros already budgeted by previous councils.