Justice releases first data on the practice that Europe is calling to be abolished in Catalan prisons

This Thursday, the Department of Justice released for the first time data that provides a comprehensive overview of mechanical restraints used for disciplinary reasons in prisons. There were 313 such restraints in the first ten months of the year. These restraints are used eight times more frequently on inmates in closed or solitary confinement than on those who can leave prison on temporary release or are on semi-liberty, with a rate of 9.16 per 100 inmates in the former case and 1.21 in the latter. Proportionally, they also affect prisoners under 25 years of age more: among young people, the rate of restraints per 100 inmates is 3.74, while among adults it is 1.28. Some of the data presented this Thursday surprised even the Department of Justice, as admitted by the Minister, Ramon Espadaler, such as the figures broken down by gender. In the prison system, there are far fewer women than men (869 and 12,835, respectively), so in absolute numbers, the number of restraints applied to women (20) is also much lower than those applied to men (194). However, the proportion of restraints per 100 people is higher among women (2.3) than among men (1.51). Espadaler was scheduled to offer his response this Thursday in a parliamentary committee to the report by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture, which warned of cases of mistreatment in Catalan prisons. The same report reiterated its request that the Catalan government abolish the use of mechanical restraints on prisoners for disciplinary reasons, limiting them to those applied for medical reasons. Espadaler and the Secretary of Penal Measures, Reintegration, and Victim Support, Elena Pérez, explained that the data confirms a downward trend in this practice. However, the Minister referred to his first statement before this same committee when he took office: "I could have come here and said 'zero restraint this term,' and I was honest in saying that it's not possible. What is possible is to work to reduce them as much as possible." From January to October of this year, 313 restraints were used in prisons for disciplinary reasons (a rate of 2.28 per 100 inmates). With this figure, the Catalan Ministry of Justice says it has achieved a 22.4% reduction in restraints compared to the previous year, consolidating a downward trend since 2023, the year with the highest number of restraints (643) in the last five years. "It's clear we have room for improvement, we must pursue it and we will," Espadaler responded to the opposition. For example, next week the Catalan Parliament will debate the proposal to grant prison officers the status of law enforcement agents, and this Thursday Pérez defended it as a way to reduce the use of restraints. "It could lead to a minimization of risky situations," he said. More factors involved

Although several factors often converge when officers decide to use restraint, Justice Department data indicates that in 66% of this year's incidents, the inmate was aggressive or showed serious resistance to staff. 42.5% of restraints were carried out after episodes of self-directed violence—including 5.75% suicide attempts—and 4.47% following fights between inmates. One of the main factors Justice Department will consider when designing prevention policies is repeat offenses. Of the 313 restraints used this year, almost half involved inmates who had been restrained more than once. In fact, a quarter of these inmates account for half of all restraints. To assess the impact of mental health issues on restraints, the department collected data on prisoners admitted to specialized medical units within 30 days of being restrained. Over a 10-month period, this occurred in approximately 30 cases, representing 14% of the total.