A Family Member in Pretrial Detention in Spain: Money, Packages and Visits

Once a relative is remanded into pretrial detention in Spain, on top of the uncertainty of the criminal case itself, some very practical questions come up: how to get them money, what you are allowed to send in a package, and how to arrange a visit. This guide does not repeat an inmate's own communication rights, already covered in our guide on prison visits and inmate communication rights. It focuses instead on the practical logistics a family has to handle from outside.

Sending Money: The Inmate's Internal Account (Peculio)

Money available to an inmate is managed through their peculio, an internal account kept by the prison itself, which the inmate uses to buy items at the prison shop (economato): supplementary food, toiletries, phone cards and other authorised products. How that account is funded from outside — a bank transfer to the facility's official account, a deposit through the channels set up by the prison authority, or cash handed over at a visit, where that is allowed — differs from one prison to another and is set out in that facility's own internal rules. Before sending anything, it is worth contacting the specific prison directly, or checking through the case lawyer, to confirm the exact procedure, the correct account holder for a transfer, and whether any cap applies — none of this is uniform across facilities, and it can change.

Packages: What Can and Cannot Be Sent

The Prison Regulation (RD 190/1996) sets the general framework for what an inmate may receive from outside, but each facility — through its own treatment board (Junta de Tratamiento) — turns that framework into its own list of authorised and prohibited items, which is worth requesting or checking before putting together a package. As a general guide, the following are usually allowed: clothing (often without certain elements, such as drawstrings or belts), personal hygiene items, and reading material. The following are usually forbidden or heavily restricted: food (for health and security reasons, subject to occasional exceptions a facility may authorise), electronic devices, and, naturally, any unauthorised substance or item. These categories are only indicative — the exact list, the formats allowed, and the delivery procedure (for example, whether a package can be sent by post or must be handed in in person) depend on each facility's specific rules, so the prison itself is the only reliable source.

Visiting-Room Visits and Vis a Vis: The Difference for Family

From a visitor's perspective, there are two main formats. An ordinary visiting-room visit is the standard form of contact: it takes place in booths with a physical partition — a screen or glass panel — between the inmate and the visitor, with no direct contact. A vis a vis, by contrast, takes place in a dedicated room without that partition and is reserved for specific relationships: the intimate vis a vis (a spouse or a person in an equivalent relationship), the family vis a vis (relatives who cannot otherwise meet in the visiting room), and the cohabitation vis a vis (with a spouse and children, and of longer duration). The detail of each format, including the reinforced protection of communications with a defence lawyer, is covered in our guide on prison visits and inmate communication rights.

How to Request a Visit

To visit a relative in pretrial detention, the usual route is to request the visit directly from the prison holding them — in person, by phone or, where a facility offers it, through the booking systems run by the prison authority — proving the visitor's identity and, for a vis a vis, the relationship claimed (family record book, a certificate of registered partnership, or an equivalent document, depending on what the facility asks for). It is worth booking ahead, since facilities generally set specific days and time slots by wing or department and slots can be limited. If the inmate is under a court-ordered incommunicado measure — an exceptional step within pretrial detention — visits and communications can be temporarily restricted; in that situation, the lawyer is who should find out the exact position from the court.

Frequency and Other Conditions

The Prison Regulation sets a general framework of minimum frequencies for oral communications and for vis a vis visits, but the exact number of visits per month, their length, and specific conditions — for example, how many visitors can attend at once, or whether children are allowed — depend on each facility's internal rules and can vary by wing or by the inmate's regime. If a visit is refused or restricted and the family does not understand why, the appropriate step is to request the reasoned decision in writing and, if it seems unwarranted, raise a complaint before the Prison Supervision Judge, with the help of a lawyer specialising in prison law.

Further Ahead in the Case

Once the immediate logistics are sorted, it is worth keeping in mind that pretrial detention is not an open-ended situation: it is subject to time limits and periodic review, and if the case ends in a conviction, an inmate's personal circumstances can later open the door to furloughs or a change in how the sentence is served. Our prison sentence milestones calculator gives an indicative sense of those timeframes. For more complex prison-law matters, you can read more about our penitentiary law service.

The maximum time limits for pre-trial detention, according to the sentence attached to the offence, are governed by Article 504 of the Spanish Criminal Procedure Law.

Incommunicado detention or pre-trial detention, an exceptional measure capped at five days, is governed by Article 509 LECrim.