Criminal Lawyers in Penitentiary Law

Prison Law is the branch of Spanish law governing the execution of custodial sentences and the relationship between inmates and the Prison Administration. Its backbone consists of the General Penitentiary Organic Law (LOGP 1/1979), the Prison Regulation (RD 190/1996) and Articles 76-94 of the Spanish Criminal Code. The protected legal interest is not merely public safety but, above all, the constitutional mandate of Art. 25.2 of the Spanish Constitution: custodial sentences must be oriented towards re-education and social rehabilitation. Constitutional Court case-law and the Supreme Court have repeatedly stressed that inmates retain every fundamental right not expressly restricted by the judgment, opening a broad field to challenge restrictive decisions by Treatment Boards or the Central Penitentiary Directorate.

Prison classification distinguishes three grades with very different consequences. First grade or closed regime (Arts. 89-95 RP) entails up to twenty-two hours of daily isolation and is reserved for inmates with extreme dangerousness; it is reviewed every two months and always challengeable before the Penitentiary Surveillance Judge (JVP). Second grade or ordinary regime (Art. 74.2 RP) is the standard module life, with work, training and short furloughs. Third grade or open regime (Arts. 80-88 RP) allows semi-liberty, work release and, via telematic monitoring (Art. 86.4 RP), even sleeping at home with an electronic bracelet. Beside them, the flexible regime of Art. 100.2 RP enables individualised programmes combining elements of different grades —a critical tool for long sentences.

Penalties and prison benefits follow a highly technical schedule. Ordinary furloughs (Art. 47 LOGP) require having served a quarter of the sentence, being classified in second or third grade and showing good conduct; the annual cap is thirty-six days in second grade and forty-eight in third grade. Conditional release / parole (Arts. 90-92 CP) becomes available after serving three quarters of the sentence (or two thirds with qualified work or training), with a favourable individualised prognosis and satisfaction of civil liability. Sentence accumulation (Art. 76 CP) sets a maximum cap on prison time —usually three times the longest sentence, with absolute limits of twenty, twenty-five, thirty or forty years depending on the offence— and its correct calculation may save years of effective imprisonment. Sentence suspension (Arts. 80-87 CP), substitution by expulsion (Art. 89 CP for non-EU foreigners) and parole for septuagenarians or terminally ill inmates (Art. 91 CP) complete the picture.

Penitentiary defence rests on four well-settled axes. First, the complaint before the JVP (Art. 76 LOGP) against decisions on classification, sanctions, transfers, denial of furloughs, interception of communications or inclusion in the FIES file; deadlines are tight and case-law requires reinforced reasoning from the Administration (STS 540/2020, AATC 153/2009). Second, the design of a "prison life plan": evidencing family roots, job offers, participation in training and treatment programmes, fractional payment of civil liability —even symbolic, as continuous effort is sufficient under STS 305/2021. Third, the challenge of disciplinary reports and sanctions (Arts. 231-258 RP), whose presence in the file blocks progressions and furloughs. Fourth, petitions to review sentences after more favourable criminal-law reforms (the case-law triggered by Organic Law 10/2022 on sexual offences is a paradigmatic example).

In current forensic practice we observe a sustained increase in proceedings concerning the "security period" of Art. 36.2 CP in sentences over five years, the conditional release of foreigners with substitutive expulsion, and the use of electronic monitoring in third grade. Organic Law 1/2025 on Justice Service Efficiency has partially reorganised the jurisdiction of the Central Penitentiary Surveillance Courts (National High Court) and the digitalisation of files has reshaped procedural deadlines. At Alonso Sala, our criminal lawyers specialised in Prison Law intervene from the moment of admission to design an individualised strategy, assist before Treatment Boards, appeal adverse decisions and accompany the inmate and family throughout the execution. We treat each file with the rigour demanded by a field where every month of delay equals one further month of effective deprivation of liberty.