Annual Report 2012: Spain’s National Preventive Mechanism
The Alcala de Guadaira
prison (Seville) and the
women’s prison of
Barcelona have a specific
ward for mothers that is
specially adapted for
children
119. The Alcala de Guadaira prison (Seville) and the women’s prison of Barce
lona have a specific ward for mothers with children under the age of three and
pregnant inmates in the last stage of gestation. In the first one, during the last
inspection visit carried out in 2011 this module was closed when the Incarcerated
Mothers’ Unit was opened. However, in August 2012 the ward was opened again
to house mothers for the purpose of properly classifying these inmates for the
Mothers’ Unit or this prison. In both cases, the inmates expressed their satisfac
tion with the treatment received in the respective centers, in particular as regards
their children. Indeed, the specific feature of these modules in comparison with
the other parts of both prisons is that they are appropriate for children. The
rooms are decorated much like those of a normal home and are equipped with all
the necessary material: cribs, furniture, curtains toys, etc. Children aged 4 to 12
months are taken care in the prisons’ day care centers and those aged 1 to 3 go to
outside day care centers. After the age of three, and depending on the mother’s
sentence, they can be transferred with their mother to a dependent unit.
A bedroom in the mothers’
ward at the Alcala de
Photograph 21
Guadaira prison (Seville)
Courtyard of the mothers’
ward at the women’s prison
Photograph 22
of Barcelona
100
THE OMBUDSMAN OF SPAIN
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