Daily requests and complaints in Spanish prisons: looking beyond legal regulation

Abstract

This article deals with the right to make requests and complaints (RCs) inside Spanish prisons. It discusses the European Prison Rules and the principles set forward by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), examining how the Spanish system respects these. It then introduces the RCs system in Spain. Through research carried out in four prisons, interviews with the directors and with 21 inmates and taking as an example one prison, we were able to discover that the number of requests in one year is 55,000. This result reveals the formalised character of Spanish prisons and raises the question as to how to respond to RCs inside prison. The last part of the article draws on interviews with three Penitentiary Judges and discusses their role in reviewing RCs. In our analysis of 626 of the final decisions we found that 98.6% were denied. Finally, the article provides some explanations for this result and questions whether judges can be said to provide an effective remedy in such cases.