Saturated prisons: Justice is working on a pool so they do not run out of psychologists

BarcelonaThe Department of Justice is working on a job pool to cover the necessary leaves or substitutions of prison educators and psychologists. This measure will serve to prevent treatment staff positions—which also include social workers, pedagogues, and jurists—from remaining vacant when a worker is absent, and will make it easier to replace them immediately. Justice is working to define the basis for creating this pool and will present it to the workers' representatives within a period of fifteen days, as reported by the UGT Prisons union, the majority in the sector, after meeting with the Minister Ramon Espadaler, the Secretary of Penal Measures and Reinsertion, Elena Pérez, and the Director General of Prison Affairs, Domingo Estepa.

The creation of this substitution pool was part of the labor conditions agreement that the department and the sector's unions closed after the murder of Núria López, who worked in the kitchen of the Mas d'Enric prison more than two years ago. However, although sources from the department describe this Monday's meeting as very productive and constructive, it did not lead to any new formal commitment.

The UGT spokesperson, Montse Balaguer, explains that the treatment staff substitution pool is a "historical demand" and that it will mean streamlining the relief for these vacancies. Previously, she asserts, only long-term leaves were covered, and the time between the publication of the vacancy and the selection process meant that months could pass until the substitute was incorporated. In contrast, with a substitution pool system, selection interviews are already done in advance and vacancies can be covered with more agility.

More civil servants and more space

The UGT Prisons union requested this meeting with the Minister of Justice to address the increase in the prison population, and in addition to this substitution pool, it has requested that several measures be urgently applied in prisons, such as accelerating the construction of new modules at Mas d'Enric. Their requests also include an increase in staff and updating the internal staff substitution pool. They also ask to expand the number of positions for the next round of public examinations, a point on which the union asserts it has the commitment of the Justice Department to address it with the Civil Service.