An inmate at the Mas d’Enric prison (Tarragona) fatally stabbed the center’s cook on Wednesday afternoon and then committed suicide, as various prison sources have explained to this newspaper. The events occurred around 5:00 p.m. The victim is Nuria L., a middle-aged woman who worked for the Center for Reintegration Initiatives (CIRE), a public company of the Generalitat. The aggressor was serving an 11-year prison sentence for homicide; According to prison sources, he had been convicted of the stabbing death of another woman.
The incident, the most serious since the Mas d’Enric prison opened its doors in 2015, occurred in the kitchen, which is located in a building separate from the modules where the inmates reside. The aggressor was assigned precisely to kitchen duties. He was, therefore, a relatively trustworthy prisoner who had shown good behavior, as he had been allowed access to potentially dangerous kitchen utensils, such as knives. It is a paid job for which he received around 200 euros, according to the same sources.
The motivation for the homicide is unknown at this time. According to prison sources, surveillance cameras have captured how the inmate takes the knife and prepares to attack the victim, to whom he delivers several stab wounds that turn out to be fatal. Later, with the same knife and always according to those sources, he commits suicide. After the violent episode, the Mossos d’Esquadra have appeared in Mas d’Enric to take charge of the homicide investigation and gather evidence.
The incident that occurred in the Tarragona prison is unprecedented. Attacks by inmates are usually suffered by officials who perform surveillance duties, but not by other public workers, such as cooks, who also carry out their duties in the prison environment. Prison officials have been shocked by the crime of a “comrade”, have expressed their support for the victim and her family and have demanded that political responsibilities be assumed.
Resignation requests
The CSIF union has sent a public letter to the secretary of criminal measures, rehabilitation and victim care of the Department of Justice, Amand Calderó, in which it regrets the incident and criticizes the public policies followed by the Government in penitentiary centers. “Unfortunately, we had warned that it could happen,” the text states. CSIF criticizes the “denial”, on the part of Calderó and the Minister of Justice, Gemma Ubasart, about the increase in the number of attacks on officials in recent years. The union announces that it “abandons any negotiation table” with Justice and calls for the “irrevocable resignation” of the two public officials because “they are not valid to lead the penitentiary services of Catalonia.”
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For Xavier Martínez (UGT), the murder is “a clear consequence of what is experienced in Catalan prisons and which we have been denouncing for years”; In particular, he states, the lack of personnel and a profile of inmates that “cause constant risk situations.” Martínez has expressed his solidarity with the victim and his family. UGT has also requested the resignation of Ubasart. This Thursday, at 12 noon, a unitary rally of prison workers is scheduled to take place outside the Department of Justice.
This same Wednesday, a prison officer from Quatre Camins, on the other hand, suffered a severe bruise to his face after being hit by an inmate. The inmate then attacked three other workers who were trying to restrain him. The first of the injured has been taken to the mutual insurance company with a severe bruise on his eye and cheekbone, as reported by the Department of Justice. The incident occurred at 11:00 a.m. when the inmate, who had been in the prison’s therapeutic unit for almost a month, showed symptoms of decompensated behavior.