"We don't have time to treat the inmates": the effects of advancing the third degree

BarcelonaWith prisons reaching their capacity limit, one of the ways the administration is trying to gain space is by promoting semi-liberty. As already explained by ARA, the generalized directive to prison workers is to trend toward openness, which the Government had already defended in the previous legislature to improve reintegration and which now also takes on a logistical meaning. While professionals and academics agree that semi-liberties improve the prospects of a prisoner not reoffending, the acceleration of third-degree statuses in recent months leaves some concerns among workers, who warn that in some cases they do not have enough time to treat the inmates. "Excarcerations are being done a bit ahead of time and we don't have time to treat them," summarizes a prison psychologist in conversation with ARA.

The same worker points out the case of a person who had ended up in prison for driving without a license after losing all their points for drunk driving. It was not a long sentence and they soon came out on semi-liberty. "The underlying problem is not that they lost the license, but the consumption. What would be ideal is to work on the whole consumption issue before they leave, and in cases like this we don't arrive in time," explains the psychologist, one of the professional figures who evaluate inmates to assess if they are ready to enjoy permits or move, for example, from second degree —the most common— to the semi-liberty of a third degree.

Prison sources explain that the most common practice when someone enters prison is to allow an "initial observation period" before considering semi-liberty. During these first weeks, educators, social workers, and psychologists interview the inmate and assess which treatment itinerary is most appropriate for each case. "If this whole process happens very quickly, we cannot make such a careful observation of what the inmate's tendency is," warns an educator. They also have the RisCanvi tool to assess the inmate's risk of reoffending. All these factors are taken into account to decide on an inmate's permits or semi-liberty, and the duration of the sentence and whether it is the first time they have offended will also influence it.

However, in all cases, the Public Prosecutor's Office can file an appeal if it believes that a leave or semi-freedom is not appropriate, and the final word will lie with the penitentiary surveillance judge. Penitentiary sources also underline that an inmate in the third degree remains under monitoring by treatment staff, who are also in contact with their environment and their place of work.

"It is a necessary step"

The professor of criminal law and criminology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona Josep Cid, who directs the research group on desistance from crime and reintegration policies, recalls that academia and international organizations have been advocating for decades the benefits of finishing sentences outside of prison, in semi-liberty, to favor reintegration. "The open regime lasts for a while, a long period. The more time you spend without reoffending, even though you could do so because you are not in prison, the lower the risk. The first year is extremely important, semi-liberty is a necessary step and there is a lack of awareness about this," he explains.

Cid recalls that in the previous legislature the Government set the goal of reaching 30% of convicts in semi-liberty, and currently they are at 21%. "It must be reached, but it must be done well. Prisons have an important role, and they must be able to prepare people well for the open environment. The therapeutic alliance, the relationship between the professional and the inmate, is very important in the third degree," he adds.

Semi-liberties are controlled from open penitentiary centers or prisons where there are open modules, and depending on each case, inmates return every evening or some nights each week. "The third degree is demanding," argues Cid. "A person who gets up early to go to work outside must return to the center at a specific time, complying with schedules, they can check on you at work... Combining the open regime with a normal life is not easy at all, but this demand works. As more time passes, there is more guarantee that this will go well," he explains.

The effects of the increase in semi-liberties are already being felt in some open centers. Sources close to the Puig de les Basses center explain that the fact that the Girona Open Center is overwhelmed means that more and more semi-liberties are being controlled from the prison itself. "This also means more entry of drugs and mobile phones," says an official at the center.

A "bridge" towards freedom

"Everything that involves reintegration and rehabilitation is welcome, but with resources," says Imma del Amo, a social educator and delegate for the IAC-Catac union, who calls for increasing staff to be able to carry out more exhaustive monitoring of inmates in semi-liberty and creating more resources outside of prison that act as a "bridge" between the penitentiary center and freedom. She sees this as especially important when the inmate does not have family or a personal network nearby, as they may begin to have weekend permits but have nowhere to go and no family with whom educators can contact to know how it went.

In some cases, a person sentenced to prison can be classified directly into the third degree, so that they serve their sentence from the beginning in semi-liberty. Penitentiary sources point out that this can happen, among other situations, in minor crimes that have taken a long time to be tried and, at the time of sentencing, the person has already rebuilt their life and has not reoffended for years. Or, for example, someone who had committed a crime in relation to an addiction they have already overcome.