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Spain: Quatre Camins officials sanctioned

01 August 2004

A number of officials from Quatre Camins prison in La Roca del Vallés (Barcelona), have been suspended from working in the prison by the Generalitat's (Catalan government) justice department. The suspensions arise from the prison revolt on 30 April 2004 (see Statewatch vol. 14 no. 3/4) and allegations of ill-treatment by prison officers against 26 prisoners before, during and after their transfers to different prison establishments. Those suspended include the prison's medical sub-director Xavier Martínez (in July), and the treatment and re-habilitation director Diego Enríquez and sub-director Vincenç Gasó (in September). The press statement that announced the dismissals in September made no reference to events in Quatre Camins.

Four officials have been charged, and called upon to appear before the court that is investigating the allegations on 22 November. They include Martínez, two heads of centres in the prison and one head of services, three of whom still occupy their posts in the prison. Apart from charging the officials the judge also demanded that the prison management proceed to identify the officers who took part in the prison transfers, and the five who were partially identified by the prisoners who made the allegations.

A spokesman from the Barcelona University Observatori del Sistema Penal I els Drets Humans (OSPDH), whose interviews with inmates who had suffered ill-treatment were part of the documentation used to build the case, claimed that "the changes are a logical consequence of the events that occurred, and demonstrate the Justice Department's ability to react positively". However, they were deemed "insufficient" in so far as they don't affect "three officials who have been charged by a court for torture and ill-treatment of prisoners".

El País, 3-4, 7.9.04.