The perpetrator of the murder of a woman in Lleida had already murdered a prisoner two decades ago.

BarcelonaHis name is Mario Casterás and he is 65 years old. This Wednesday he entered Ponent prison as a confessed perpetrator. of the murder of a woman last Sunday in LleidaHe arrived at the police station covered in blood and confessed to having just killed a 53-year-old woman with whom he shared an apartment, using a knife. They were not in a romantic relationship, and the incident is not being investigated as a case of gender-based violence. Casterás has a long criminal record and has served several prison sentences. In 2000, he killed an inmate at the same prison where he has now been incarcerated, Ponent; a crime that earned him a 16-year sentence. Specifically, he attacked a prisoner with an iron bar in the gym showers. He was jealous because he learned that his partner was also sending letters to that inmate. At the time, Casterás was already in prison for a violent robbery. Over the years, he has been held in several Catalan prisons to serve this second sentence for homicide: first Ponent and then Quatre Camins, and also Brians 1 and 2, Lledoners, and Puig de les Basses. However, his first conviction dates back to 1980 for a series of robberies with his brother. His most recent sentence was also for burglary. He had only been released from Brians 2 prison four months prior, having completed his sentence.

The ARA spoke with Mario Casteras The interview took place in 2022, a year after he had been released from Brians 2 prison, having served his sentence. Shortly after, in 2023, he was incarcerated again for this latest robbery. "Now I'm going to live peacefully, because I don't plan on going back inside," he stated in 2022. "What has surprised me most is that people are on their cell phones all the time," he added, referring to the long time he had spent locked up. He had spent more than half his life behind bars. Once out, he was plagued by the paranoia that "everyone" was staring at him in the street, while he was constantly looking behind him. "Just like in prison, where you can never let your guard down," explained this man from Lleida, who also admitted that he had grown accustomed to prison life, to the fact that "every day is the same." His testimony exemplified a common prisoner profile, as he found himself alone upon release, with nowhere to go or a family support network. He outright refused prison furloughs because he didn't know what to leave behind. Casterás was part of the Justice Department's support service for the transition from prison to the community. Preparation begins in the last three months of the sentence, when volunteers are allowed into prisons to have initial contact with the inmate enrolled in the program. This is followed by another six months after release, with support from NGOs and the social services of the municipality where the inmate will reside. This is the final step toward reintegration, but before that, there are many other programs and activities within the prison to try to guide inmates back to justice. Eight out of ten should not be re-incarcerated.

However, this is not always the case, as the story of Mario Casterás exemplifies. Studies on recidivism among Catalan prisoners are conducted at least every four or five years because repeat offenses do not always appear in the first few years after release. The latest study, which ARA has accessed, is from 2020. Its main conclusion was that eight out of ten inmates in Catalonia in 2015 had not returned to prison by December 31, 2019. The remaining 21.1% had. However, this rate was the lowest in 33 years – since the Department of Justice began conducting these studies. According to the same report, several factors increase the risk of recidivism. One of them is having no prior prison sentences. For example, the risk increases significantly if the inmate has more than five previous incarcerations. Not having furloughs during the sentence is also considered a risk factor, as is lacking a family support network or experiencing chronic unemployment. This risk is greater in property crimes than in other types of offenses.