Prisoner assaults two staff members at Castellón prison
An inmate with a history of violence attacked workers who were attempting to separate him from another prisoner in the infirmary module; one suffered serious injuries to his elbow and knee.
Assault at Castellón Prison
An inmate at Castellón Prison (Castellón I) assaulted two workers at the facility on Tuesday at 12.00 hours whilst attempting to stop a fight in the Infirmary Module, according to information provided by the union Acaip-UGT and confirmed to Europa Press by penitentiary sources. The prisoner, assigned to the Comprehensive Mental Health Care Programme (PAIEM) and with an extremely aggressive profile, had initiated a physical confrontation with another inmate.
When the staff member assigned to the module intervened to restore order with the support of a second worker, the inmate lunged at both of them with extreme violence, throwing punches, kicks and scratches. One of the employees suffered multiple bruising with severe injuries to his elbow and knee that required medical attention.
Previous history of incidents
According to El Confidencial, Acaip-UGT emphasises that this situation is not an isolated one. Staff at the facility had alerted management for months about the potential danger posed by this inmate, who has a lengthy history of disciplinary incidents and disruptive episodes. However, the administration has not adopted measures for internal separation or transfers to psychiatric prison units appropriate to his condition.
The union also points out that the Infirmary Module suffers from "organisational precariousness": it experiences a constant and substantial flow of prisoners from all modules within the facility, and services are frequently staffed by a single officer in charge. This numerical disproportion compromises both worker safety and the proper custody of inmates.
Lack of healthcare resources
Acaip-UGT links the incidents to the "systematic deterioration" of prison healthcare under the Ministry of the Interior. Castellón Prison currently operates with only one doctor for the entire inmate population and an alarming absence of psychiatrists to monitor serious conditions. Nationally, vacant medical staff positions in prisons exceed 75 per cent, according to the union organisation.
More than 30 per cent of the prison population suffers from some form of mental health disorder, frequently without prior diagnosis and which manifests itself violently in the prison environment. The union contends that without sufficient medical care, early detection and rigorous pharmacological follow-up, facilities become extremely high-risk environments, placing the burden on security personnel for physical containment of psychiatric cases that should be addressed from a clinical perspective and in specialised facilities.
Union demands
Acaip-UGT has called on the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions for the urgent provision of personnel resources, the immediate filling of healthcare vacancies and the transfer of unsuitable inmates to facilities appropriate to their pathological needs.
Source: El Confidencial