ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the sparse European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) jurisprudence regarding Spain’s prison system and the domestic authorities’ reaction to the obligations imposed by the Strasbourg Court. It discusses the several prison supervisory bodies that exist in Spain and their effectiveness. The explanation provided by the lawyers interviewed was their lack of knowledge of the case-law and the procedure before the ECtHR, the language barrier and the economic unattractiveness of the amount of workload not being paid off. Spain is nevertheless equipped with national supervisory mechanisms for the oversight of its prison system, with the Judge for Prison Supervision being the core figure. The chapter concludes with regard to the obligations imposed by the bodies of the Council of Europe, is that prison conditions and other aspects of life in Spanish prisons are not being monitored by the ECtHR.
