Luis Bárcenas, upon his arrival on December 27 at the Victoria Kent Center for Social Integration (CIS), where he is serving a sentence in semi-liberty, Álvaro García
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has asked the Interior Ministry to forward the file produced by the penal institutions to grant former PP treasurer Luis Bárcenas the semi-liberty regime that allows him to leave prison for more than 15 hours a day since the end of December from central Madrid where he is serving a sentence, as confirmed by EL PAÍS sources from the Public Ministry. By doing so, Anticorruption intends to know the contents of the reports prepared by the prison staff on which this decision was based, in order to consider whether to appeal to the Prison Supervision Judge to demand that Bárcenas be returned to his previous situation, if only released from prison with special permission. The former treasurer of the PP, sentenced by the Supreme Court to 29 years and one month in prison for his involvement in the Gurtel case, has so far served just over half of the 12 years the state court gave him as the maximum sentence in prison.
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In particular, anti-corruption wants to know the law repealed by the meeting held in November of the members of the Treatment Committee – a body made up of prison professionals – of Soto del Real prison (Madrid), where it was agreed to propose that prisons where Article 100.2 of the Prison Code applied to the former Treasurer of the PP, who was imprisoned in that prison at the time. This section of the ordinance allows the interior to have more flexibility in the lifetime of a second-degree inmate (as in the case of Bárcenas), allowing them to enjoy some of the benefits of those classified in the third degree or open regime as an instrument for its social reintegration. According to the sources consulted, the proposal made by the Soto del Real prison board was not unanimous at the time and the prosecutor, before deciding whether or not to appeal, wants to examine the arguments of the two members who defended you to apply this article of the Penitentiary Code to the politician, as used by opponents.
Weighted in this decision by the Madrid prison was that the former treasurer had already received twenty exit permits without incident, that he had shown good behavior during his detention and that he was participating in a reintegration program that includes group meetings for restorative justice for victims of various crimes. The last, with a woman who suffered a sexual assault, his defense sources told this newspaper at the time. Although voluntary participation in these programs does not entail liberty compensation, correctional facilities take it into account when awarding it.
Interior approved the jail proposal a month later and Bárcenas finally entered the Victoria Kent Social Insertion Center (CIS, where semi-libertarians serve their sentences) in Madrid on December 27. There he was then interviewed by the center’s educator, lawyer, psychologist and social worker in order to draft the execution plan for the remainder of his sentence. Prison sources say inmates in cases similar to Bárcenas are entitled to leave the CIS Monday through Friday for the hours necessary to perform the employment they establish, but they must return to prison each day in order to spend a good portion of the time indoors during the day and sleep. They are also given a number of weekends per month to spend at home, which is usually two at the beginning. If good development of the occupant is observed, these hours will become more flexible and lengthened in the following months.
However, the prison plan designed for the former PP treasurer is much more comprehensive from week one, practically the same as that enjoyed by the majority of prisoners already in the third degree. In particular, he is authorized to go from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., in addition to spending all weekends and holidays at home, after explaining to the correctional authorities that he had a job as an accountant for a company his son Guillermo, musician and manager the band Taburete, who were recruited to volunteer at a soup kitchen run by a religious order. He has already started collaborating on the latter, his defense sources confirm.
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