The murder of Nuria López, the cook at the Tarragona prison, has unleashed the anger of prison workers who accuse the Generalitat of leaving them unprotected. From the initial surprise upon learning of the crime, it turned to indignation and from there to anger to the point that the prison workers have decided to block access to the prisons throughout the day, preventing the entry of staff and leaving many prisoners without being able to leave their cells due to lack of personnel. In total, almost 5,000 remain locked up. The night shift staff have had to work all day because the morning employees did not relieve them. The same has happened with those in the afternoon. The night guard has fewer personnel and for this reason the prisons have not been able to function normally.
There are five prisons in which there is an absolute lockdown. Brians 1 and 2 (Sant Esteve Sesrovires), Lledoners (Sant Joan de Vilatorrada), Ponent (Lleida) and Mas d'Enric (El Catllar). The rest of the prisons, such as Puig de les Basses (Figueres), Quatre Camins and the Youth Center (La Roca del Vallès) operate at half throttle, without activities but with the inmates able to move around the module. This Friday afternoon, the visits of family members and the departures of the prisoners on leave were planned, but they could not take place.
Prison officials have been demanding improvements in the security of the centers from the Generalitat for some time in the face of the increase in attacks. The death of Nuria, the cook at the Tarragona prison at the hands of an inmate is the sad outcome of a growing violence that they have been denouncing for some time. For this reason, workers have blocked access to the centers since early in the morning. They have set up barricades burning tires, tree branches and stones and have demanded the resignation of the Minister of Justice Gemma Ubasart and the Secretary of Penal Measures, Amand Calderó. Both have tried without success to open a dialogue with the unions to restore normality in the prisons. At 2 p.m., Justice had called the unions to a meeting but they stood them up and announced that they would continue with the blockade until they held out.
In a press conference called urgently, both Ubasart and Calderó have urged the unions to reconsider and warn of the consequences of their actions. “We understand the labor demands but there are inmates who have not yet been able to leave their cells since yesterday. And this increases tension and can pose a risk to the workers who are developing the service,” the councilor warned. During the appearance, Ubasart asked the unions to resume dialogue and differentiate their labor demands from the incident that cost the life of the cook at Mas d'Enric. The counselor has announced the opening of a confidential information whose conclusions she expects for next week and that will clarify how the crime occurred and determine why an inmate convicted of killing a woman with a knife in 2016 was assigned to the kitchen with access to sharp objects. “The prisoner had been working in the kitchen for more than four years with normal behavior,” indicated the secretary of penal measures.
Iulian Odriste, 48 years old and of Romanian nationality, was serving an eleven-year prison sentence for having killed a woman in Valls in 2016. The man slit her throat with a kitchen knife after an argument. On Wednesday afternoon, while in the kitchen, Odriste led the head chef to the cold room and stabbed her in the neck. Then he cut his own jugular. The inmate had been charged in December after a violent argument with another prisoner. He was removed from the kitchen but returned a short time later.
