ABSTRACT
The special prison employment relationship is a legal employment relationship established between Prison Work and Services, an autonomous body, and the inmates carrying out productive activities for a third part Penal benefits are legal mechanisms that allow prison terms to be reduced. One can distinguish between educational, cultural and sports activities, non-productive occupational activities and the special prison employment relationship. Spanish legislation on prison labour is generally progressive and reflects the broad prison principles established by the democratic prison law of the post-Franco period. As in Spain as a whole, the prison population in Catalonia has increased greatly. After the enactment of the Spanish Constitution in 1978, Spain was organized into 17 autonomous communities each with its own political and administrative autonomy, although not all of them enjoy the same degree of self-government or have had the same powers devolved to them.
