• The sentence: The Supreme sentence to Junqueras to 13 years for sedition with embezzlement and between nine and 12 to the rest imprisoned for the 'procés'
  • The keys: The Supreme: "We are not responsible for offering political solutions to a problem of historical roots"

The Generalitat has a wide range of possibilities to allow the release of 1-O prisoners shortly. The same prison rules apply to them as the rest of the prisoners in Spain, but the ones who apply to them are the Serveis Penitenciaris , that is, the Department of Justice. These are the legal keys to get out of prison.

1. The third grade

The Supreme Court refused to block the granting of the third degree before they served half the sentence (the so-called security period). So, on paper, they can be granted immediately. The serious practical obstacle that this option has is that an appeal by the prosecutor would block the enforceability of the measure. The appeal is taken for granted, because the Public Ministry asked the court, without success, to impose that security period. Therefore, in order to go out with the third degree, the beneficiaries would first need the Penitentiary Surveillance Court to reject the appeal. And, then, that the Supreme himself also dismissed it, that as a court that issued the sentence he would review the decision of the court and have the last word on the third degree.

2. The back door of 100.2

It is probable that the Serveis Penitenciaris de la Generalitat discard the radical path of the third degree and classify the nine convicted in the second degree. This is the usual regime in prisons: you only get out - if things go well - with the ordinary permits set by law. But the second degree has a back door: Article 100.2 of the Penitentiary Regulations. For the sake of the "flexibility" principle, this article allows a third-degree prisoner to be granted the advantages of the third degree without formally granting it. This is, most likely, the route used by the Generalitat to activate the release.

The regulations do not determine which regime of life is granted to the beneficiaries of this system, which implies that there is great discretion on the part of the prison. Regimes that allow daily prison exits are frequent. You could be stricter, but also more generous with limitations on weekends and evenings. The 100.2 path has two major differences from the third grade. The first, that the prosecutor's appeal would not block his immediate enforceability: the prisoners would leave prison while the eventual resources were aired. And second, that the last word on whether the decision of the Generalitat is maintained or revoked would not be the Supreme Court, but the Barcelona Court.

3. The Urdangarin route

The husband of Infanta Cristina, Iñaki Urdangarin, leaves prison on weekdays without being classified in third grade and without having applied article 100.2. To him another article of the penitentiary regulation was applied (the 117), anticipated for prisoners in second degree and that is linked to a program of individual reinsertion. Legal sources are unlikely to apply to those imprisoned in the process .

4. Ordinary permits

If the convicts of the procés were treated like the usual prisoners, the first prison exits could reach them as soon as they served a quarter of their sentences. Each one in its moment. For example, the Jordis will be able to access these benefits already in January, since Jordi Cuixart and Jordi Sànchez are the ones who first entered into provisional prison - which is deducted from the penalty - and those who have received the least sentence.

On the other hand, Oriol Junqueras would need to serve three years and three months in prison `to reach the fourth part, which would take him until January 2021. He would still have to wait another month for Carme Forcadell, since he has a high sentence and went into preventive later.

Ordinary permits are limited to a maximum of 36 days per year. To these exits could be added the so-called extraordinary permits, which are granted exclusively for medical or family reasons.

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  • Supreme Court
  • Jordi Sanchez
  • Oriol Junqueras
  • Jordi Cuixart
  • Iñaki Urdangarin
  • Carme Forcadell
  • Proced judgment

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