ABSTRACT
During the democratic period, Spain has progressively approached the European ideal for a prison system: reduction of the use of imprisonment, normalisation of prison life and orientation of the prison system to rehabilitation. COVID-19 has had an impact on these three principles. In order to prevent the spread of the disease in prisons, a dual policy has been implemented: persons who would otherwise be held in open prisons have been diverted to home-detention curfew, and inmates subject to the ordinary regime have had to submit to several restrictive measures about contact with the outside world and prison activities. These measures have been effective to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among inmates and staff, but the principles of normalisation and rehabilitation have been damaged. The compensatory measures adopted have probably prevented a major crisis in Spanish prisons.
