Overview
- The Catalan Justice Department, which announced the director’s exit Friday, said a new leader will be named in days after a public call for candidates opened April 8.
- Three of the five inmate suicides in Catalonia this year occurred at Puig de les Basses, including a 28-year-old who died Monday, April 27, in a closed-regime unit without a prevention protocol in place.
- The department called each prison suicide a failure of the system and said it will study the cases to strengthen screening and other safeguards.
- The prison houses Catalonia’s first Compensatory Intervention Unit, a 20-bed mental health wing meant to curb disruptive behavior and treat illness and addiction, which has drawn fresh scrutiny after the recent deaths.
- Unions and prisoner-rights groups faulted detection and staffing, pressed for transparent reporting, and urged probes into isolation and other disciplinary practices they say can raise risk.