Protestors are demanding better working conditions after a cook was killed in a Catalan detention centre last week.
Monday marked another day of protests at prisons in Spain after a cook was murdered by an inmate in a centre in Catalonia last week.
Prison workers are demanding safer working conditions.
Despite a deal this Sunday, prison workers in Catalonia have taken to the streets again, putting up barricades and burning tyres at the entrances of detention centres to prevent both the entry and exit of officials and prisoners, as well as food and other services.
The aim is to generate tension inside the centres by preventing shift changes, although in some prisons workers were urged to stay overnight to ensure the service on Monday.
Councillor Gemma Ubasart indicated that Monday’s blockade affects some 4,000 inmates, as it has been impossible to let some out of their cells.
Ubssart said the “situation is serious and worrying”, as “the right to protest cannot prevent the functioning of essential services.”
She added some lawyers have not been able to assist clients, “violating the right of defence”.
Plus it has not been possible to carry out non-urgent health outings or to make videoconferences in the centres at the request of the judiciary.
“We are in a situation of restrictions that did not even occur in the pandemic”, said Ubasart, urging unions to return to the negotiating table to resolve the blockade.
Anti-riot police have been sent to some prisons to allow access of goods and staff.
Unions are demanding the resignation of prison directors, Gemma Ubasart and the secretary of Penal Measures Amand Calderó.
Unlike previous days, there has been more police presence this Monday in the main Catalan prisons to ensure normal service in the centres.
Protests on Friday and Saturday generated problems of coexistence when thousands of prisoners could not leave their cells because there were not enough staff and family members were not allowed to visit.
Police carried out actions to prevent the blockades but only succeeded in two prisons.