The acting Ombudsman, Francisco Fernández Marugán, has handed over the Office’s 2018 Annual Report to the Congress of Deputies and the Senate, on behalf of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment (the NPM).
In 2018, the NPM inspected 111 prisons throughout 31 provinces in 17 regions, and the autonomous city of Ceuta. One out of every three visits was a follow-up to check whether acceptance of the Office’s resolutions did or did not produce a real change in the problems detected in earlier inspections.
In total, 1,788 conclusions have been reached, resulting in 45 recommendations, 760 suggestions and 17 reminders of legal duties.
The 2018 NPM Report has a chapter providing data related to criminal convictions and administrative sanctions for authorities or civil servants working at prisons, and individually convicted citizens for undermining the authority of the law, resistance or disobedience.
As was the case of the 2017 Report, each chapter includes a table which, through a “traffic light” colour code, appraises each one of the main issues examined by the NPM at the prisons visited.
Prisons
In 2018, 15 prisons were visited, one integration centre and one psychiatric hospital for prisoners. A total of 656 conclusions were reached, synthesised into 11 recommendations, four reminders of legal duties and 231 suggestions. In addition, two recommendations were made per visit completed in 2017.
The Office considers as positive Service Order 1/2018, on the supervision and follow-up of complaints filed by inmates regarding mistreatment on the part of the General Secretariat for Prisons. This Order establishes that all complaints should be duly registered, irrespective of the way in which they are reported. The NPM trusts that this initiative will result in a protocol that enables a more thorough investigation and follow-up on these complaints by the Administration itself.
However, the Ombudsman is worried about the fact that these visits have disclosed that there is still no log to register complaints, denunciations or court proceedings related to abuse or mistreatment by correction officers, in order to facilitate a follow-up.
Once again this year, the Office has highlighted the importance of video surveillance to detect and prevent torture and mistreatment. Consequently, the NPM is still advocating a single protocol for everything related to the recording, extraction, storage, safekeeping and access to captured images, and the installation of more cameras.
In turn, the NPM has again drawn attention to the fact that there is insufficient healthcare staff at prisons, which notably affects the quality and frequency of healthcare assistance. Furthermore, it has continued to advocate the 24-hour availability of these professionals. It has again highlighted the need to establish healthcare assistance request systems for emergency situations in all prisons.
For the first time, a Social Integration Centre (CIS) was visited. The NPM inspected CIS “Guillermo Miranda” (Murcia). Such inspection has evidenced that lifestyle and cohabitation, and other key issues at these centres, are scarcely regulated, which is why the NPM considers that further implementing regulations are necessary.
Another novelty in 2018 has been the start-up of a prison visiting protocol, focusing on gender issues. CP “Antoni Asunción Hernández” in Picassent (Valencia) was the prison chosen to launch this project. At the date of the visit, there were 2,052 inmates, of whom 236 were women.
During the inspection it became apparent that female prisoners become invisible. Official forms only refer to “inmates” and the records have no information itemised by gender. As regards access to treatment, activities and remunerated employment, it was found that women encounter barriers due to the prison’s layout and how the prisoner population is arranged. These barriers even include use of the sports facilities, where men have more activities and longer activity hours than women.
At the time of the visit, only 8% of all female inmates had an employment contract. For women safety and protection reasons, they are unable to attend workshops where they may coincide with prisoners convicted of sexual offences or gender violence; thus, status as a potential victim ends up paradoxically working against them. A suggestion has been made to guarantee access to formative workshops and assignments in equal terms.
Prisons for underage offenders
The NPM has 71 prisons on record, for all of Spain, for underage offenders. Such prisons are entrusted to each region and autonomous city, although many of them are managed by private institutions. The different ways in which prison managers collect data means that it is impossible to know how many minors have been punished with a deprivation of freedom in 2018.
In 2018, eight visits were made, resulting in 247 conclusions, which gave rise to two recommendations, 125 suggestions and four reminders of legal duties. A recommendation was also made in relation to a visit completed in late 2017.
The Office is concerned about the fact that, when a minor is detained in a prison outside his/her region of residence, this causes great economic strain for his/her family and, on occasion, may hinder the continuation of family ties. For this reason, suggestions have been made in order for families to receive financial aid.
At these prisons, it was detected that medical check-ups are very often conducted in the presence of educators or security staff. The Ombudsman considers that medical care should always guarantee the intimacy of underage inmates.
It has still been detected that some prisons do not have a log to enter the use of coercive measures or, even if these logs are kept, they fail to include the necessary details on the minor’s name, means used, start and end times, reason for applying the measures, and follow-up by healthcare staff.
Furthermore, in the visits made, relevant differences were detected amongst prisons in relation to the use of mechanical restraints, as well as staff training on both how these measures are executed and the prioritisation of alternative scale-back measures. The NPM considers that this is the time to reflect on the suitability of using mechanical restraints at this type of prison.
Mental health units
The NPM has completed five visits to mental health centres, where mentally disturbed persons are forcibly imprisoned, one of which was a follow-up. The centres visited were the Mental Health Hospitalisation Unit of Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias (Oviedo); the Socio-Healthcare Centre “Casta Arévalo” in Arévalo (Ávila); the Unit of Acute Psychiatric Patients of Hospital Universitario de Fuenlabrada (Madrid); the “José Germain” Psychiatric Institute in Leganés (Madrid); and the Unit of Acute Patients in Hospital “Nuestra Señora del Prado”, Talavera de la Reina (Toledo). A total of 122 conclusions were reached, resulting in 11 recommendations, 29 suggestions and a reminder of legal duties.
Imprisonment of foreigners (CIEs)
At present, Spain has seven CIEs with eight facilities, given that the Algeciras prison has a self-sufficient extension in Tarifa with its own management. In 2018, NPM visited five of these centres. These inspections ended with 46 conclusions, resulting in 22 suggestions and three reminders of legal duties.
In his 2017 Report, the Ombudsman had made a series of proposals for these prisons exclusively used to detain foreigners, advocating their comprehensive reform.
In 2018, a total of 7,855 persons were imprisoned in CIEs. These centres received 1,776 applications for international protection, of which 543 were granted leave to proceed, and 88 inmates were identified as unaccompanied foreign minors.
Some needs are still not covered. The visited centres still do not guarantee a separation between inmates with a criminal record from others at a CIE who are detained only because of their illegal status in Spain. In healthcare matters, there is still no 24-hour medical attention, inmates lack psychological and psychiatric assistance and no tests are completed for drug using or infectious/contagious diseases.
It has also been detected that occasionally inmates’ rights to be visited by NGOs is compromised for security reasons. Specifically, during an inspection of CIE Madrid it was ascertained that NGO access had been suspended due to incidents arising two weeks earlier. The Office has issued a reminder of legal duties.
During this same visit, another reminder was issued when it was detected that inmates leaving the dining/living room had to reach their rooms through a corridor full of policemen fitted with shields, helmets and weapons, which was clearly intimidating. Given the time that had elapsed since the incidents, it did not seem reasonable for such strict security measures to continue, which is why a reminder of legal duties was issued on the proportionality required when using these types of measures.
Short prison sentences
In 2018, the NPM visited 58 facilities for short prison sentences. These include police stations and other Spanish Police custodial points (25), Civil Guard stations and headquarters (16), regional police (5), local police forces (9) and custodial facilities at the courts (3).
Nine visits were made to Spanish Police custodial points, used to detain and initially accommodate migrants irregularly entering Spain along the coast, a section for rejected applicants and another for asylum seekers.
These inspections have resulted in 546 conclusions, materialising in 16 recommendations, 327 suggestions and 4 reminders of legal duties.
For the first time, a visit was made to Spanish Police custodial facilities under construction, in order to present NPM approaches and priorities for this type of facility. This measure will be checked against the final outcome of the works once these facilities, located in San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid), are running.
In 2018, according to the Ministry for Home Affairs, a total of 57,498 persons arrived in Spain in 2,109 vessels. During the months of August and September visits were made to the provinces of Cádiz, Granada and Málaga, which were receiving the largest number of migrants. Sports pavilions were inspected, a maritime rescue ship, police stations, centres for provisional assistance to foreigners (CATEs) and the Tarifa CIE.
Steps to repatriate foreigners
In 2018, 15 procedures to repatriate foreign citizens were inspected, which all took place by air, liaising with the FRONTEX European Agency. These inspections have resulted in 158 conclusions, used to back up five recommendations, 19 suggestions and a reminder of legal duties. In total, the repatriation of 563 persons was monitored.
There is still a large number of cases where repatriated persons are not notified of the date and time of their repatriation. This is why suggestions have been made in order for persons waiting to be repatriated to be informed of when and it what circumstances this will take place.
Furthermore, the NPM has still insisted on the importance of all persons awaiting repatriation being previously checked by medical teams in order to be declared fit to travel. There is still a tendency for only former CIE residents to enjoy this status, whereas persons previous detained at police stations do not hold this document unless they were already receiving medical treatment.
See the NPM Report 2018 (Spanish Version)
