Prison lawyer in Barcelona

When someone in your family enters a prison in Catalonia, the first thing you discover is that the sentence is not the end of the process: it is the start of another one. From then on, everything runs through decisions taken inside the prison — classification, leave, sanctions, risk assessments — and through a court most people had never heard of until that moment.

At Bataller Abogados we have spent more than 25 years working in exactly that field. We are a boutique firm based at number 205 Carrer Aribau in Barcelona, and a great deal of our work involves travelling to Catalan prisons, speaking to the prisoner, speaking to the family, and filing the right submissions with the prison supervision courts.

This page does not explain how each procedure works: for that we have our guide to Spanish prison law. This page is about the place: which prisons there are in Catalonia, how a prison system run by the Generalitat rather than the Spanish State works, what RisCanvi is, where the courts are, and who we are.

A firm specialising solely in prison law, in central Barcelona

We are not a general practice with a prison law department. It is the other way round: the enforcement of sentences and life in prison are the core of what we do, and the rest of our criminal work revolves around that.

That focus has practical consequences. We know the treatment teams in the Catalan prisons, we know how a treatment board report is written and how to read it, and we are familiar with the criteria applied by the different prison supervision sections in Barcelona. We also know something less technical but just as important: that the person calling our office is usually frightened and poorly informed, and that the first conversation has to explain in plain terms where things stand and what can be attempted.

We are available 24 hours. That is not a slogan: in prison matters there are situations that cannot wait until Monday — an admission to prison, an unexpected transfer, an incident report, a weekend arrest — and a call made in time changes what can be done.

We work in Spanish and Catalan, in person at Aribau 205 or by video call if the family lives a long way from the office or outside Catalonia.

The Catalan prison system: why things work differently here

Catalonia was the first Autonomous Community to take on the enforcement of prison legislation. The transfer of powers was formalised by Real Decreto 3482/1983 and took effect from 1984. Since then, Catalan prisons have not come under the Spanish State’s prison service but under the Departament de Justícia of the Generalitat de Catalunya. For decades it was the only region with this competence; the Basque Country took it on in 2021.

The underlying legislation is national, but the running of the system is Catalan. The Ley Orgánica General Penitenciaria (the Spanish Prison Act) and the Reglamento Penitenciario (the Prison Regulations) apply in the same way, but it is the Catalan administration that develops them through internal instructions and circulars, that classifies prisoners, that grants leave at first instance and that organises treatment programmes.

Its own terminology. Here people speak of centres penitenciaris, centres oberts, juntes de tractament and programes individualitzats de tractament. Much of the paperwork in the file is written in Catalan, and whoever reads and answers it needs to work comfortably in that language.

The centres oberts are separate institutions. In Catalonia the open regime is served in dedicated centres, separate from ordinary prisons. The network is being renewed, with the new centre obert in Barcelona’s Zona Franca as its centrepiece.

Tools found nowhere else. The most important is RisCanvi, a risk assessment protocol used only in Catalonia, which carries weight in decisions affecting liberty.

Prisons in Catalonia where we act

We travel regularly to the Catalan prisons to meet prisoners. We do not publish addresses, visiting hours or prison telephone numbers because they change often: up-to-date details are on the official Departament de Justícia website.

Brians 1 (Sant Esteve Sesrovires)

A multi-purpose prison in the Baix Llobregat, holding both remand and sentenced prisoners, with women’s units and a heavy healthcare role: the Catalan prison psychiatric hospital is on the same site. Here we frequently act on initial classification, matters linked to mental illness, and applications for alternatives to the ordinary regime.

Brians 2 (Sant Esteve Sesrovires)

This is the largest prison in the Catalan system and one of the busiest. It holds prisoners under the ordinary regime and generates a high volume of cases: progressions and regressions of grade, disciplinary proceedings and appeals against treatment board decisions. If you are looking for a prison lawyer for Brians 2, it is one of the prisons we attend most regularly.

Quatre Camins (La Roca del Vallès)

One of the long-standing prisons in the Vallès Oriental, under the ordinary regime and with specialist care units. Much of our work here concerns disciplinary proceedings, moves between units and transfer requests based on family ties.

Centre Penitenciari de Joves (La Roca del Vallès)

A prison specifically for young prisoners, with an approach built around training and education. Because these prisoners have only just entered the system, the initial classification and the design of the treatment programme are decisive, and that is where early involvement counts.

Centre Penitenciari de Dones de Barcelona (Wad-Ras)

The main women’s prison in the city of Barcelona, in operation since the 1980s. It is due to be replaced by a new facility in the Zona Franca, but it remains in use today. Here we act on classification, prison leave, maternity situations and mother-and-baby units, and on health-related matters.

Lledoners (Sant Joan de Vilatorrada)

A prison in the Bages area, under the ordinary regime, holding prisoners serving medium and long sentences. Much of the work concerns progression to tercer grado (third grade, Spain’s open or semi-liberty regime), ordinary prison leave and preparing for parole.

Ponent (Lleida)

The main prison for the Ponent counties. It holds both remand and sentenced prisoners, and because of where it is, prisoners with family in the Barcelona metropolitan area often apply to move closer to home. Court appeals from this prison are heard in Lleida, not in Barcelona.

Puig de les Basses (Figueres)

A prison in the Alt Empordà that took over from the old Girona prison. It serves the Girona counties, holding remand and sentenced prisoners, with men’s and women’s units. A significant proportion of prisoners are foreign nationals, which makes expulsion questions and transfer requests common.

Mas d’Enric (El Catllar, Tarragonès)

The prison that replaced the old Tarragona prison. It serves the Tarragona counties and the Terres de l’Ebre, holding remand and sentenced prisoners, with a centre obert built into the same complex.

Centres oberts

Catalonia has dedicated open regime centres in Barcelona, Girona, Lleida and Tarragona. They are where prisoners classified in tercer grado are held, and the point at which the transition to life outside is played out: leaving to work, prison leave, electronic monitoring.

A historical note: La Model

The old Presó Model in Barcelona’s Eixample closed in 2017. It still comes up in searches and conversations, but it is no longer a working prison: its prisoners were moved to other prisons in the Catalan system.

Prison supervision courts in Catalonia

Judicial oversight of the enforcement of sentences in Catalonia lies with prison supervision bodies whose jurisdiction is region-wide, not provincial. In other words: there is no one court per prison, but rather a distribution of prisons among several bodies, most based at the Ciutat de la Justícia in Barcelona, and one based in Lleida.

There is a recent change worth knowing about. Ley Orgánica 1/2025 of 2 January, on efficiency measures in the public justice service, replaces single-judge courts with Tribunales de Instancia (first instance tribunals) organised into sections. Those sections expressly include a Prison Supervision Section. In practice, what used to be the Juzgados de Vigilancia Penitenciaria (Prison Supervision Courts) of Catalonia now appear in the judiciary’s own directory as Prison Supervision Sections of the Tribunal de Instancia.

For the prisoner and the family, the essentials do not change: the prison supervision body still decides appeals against the decisions of the Catalan administration, and still rules on prison leave, classification, sanctions and parole. What does change is the name, the internal allocation of work and, in some cases, the procedure.

RisCanvi and the weight it carries in decisions

RisCanvi is the risk assessment and management protocol used in Catalan prisons since 2009. It was developed by the Departament de Justícia together with the Advanced Studies Group on Violence at the Universitat de Barcelona and the Centre d’Estudis Jurídics i Formació Especialitzada. It does not exist in the rest of Spain.

It is not an algorithm that decides on its own. It is the professionals on the treatment team — psychologists, lawyers, educators, social workers — who assess a set of static and dynamic risk factors from interviews and the file, and the protocol returns a risk level in several areas: self-directed violence, violence inside the prison, reoffending and breach of sentence.

That is the key point: an unfavourable risk assessment does not by itself prevent anything, but it shapes the language of the reports and the frame of mind in which applications for prison leave and tercer grado are read. So it is worth knowing which factors were assessed, whether the information in the file is up to date, and whether there are elements — family ties, work, treatment, family support — that were not recorded and should have been.

How we can help

• Prison leave — application, follow-up and appeal against a refusal.
• Tercer grado and the open regime — progression of grade and access to a centre obert.
• Parole — preparing the file and defending the proposal.
• Disciplinary proceedings — assistance with the charge sheet and appeals against sanctions.
• Suspensión de la pena (suspension of the custodial sentence) — to avoid entering prison where the requirements are met.
• Expulsion in place of the sentence — for foreign nationals who have been convicted.

If you are not sure which of these categories your case falls into, call us and we will place it: that is exactly what the first conversation is for.

Our team

Mariam Bataller Pardo founded the firm and has more than 25 years of experience in criminal and prison law. Montse Pijoan i Almaraz and Laura Bardají Salinas make up the core of the team, with established experience in the enforcement of sentences and in day-to-day dealings with Catalan prisons.

We are a small firm, and that is deliberate. It means the person handling your case is the person who knows it, that you are not passed from hand to hand, and that whoever travels to meet the prisoner is the same person who signs the submissions. You can read more about us on the Bataller Bardají team page.

We also act outside Catalonia

Although we are based in Barcelona and work daily with Catalan prisons, we take on cases in prisons across the rest of Spain, where responsibility lies with the national prison administration and, in the Basque Country, with the Basque Government since 2021.

The administration changes, the terminology changes and, above all, there is no RisCanvi, but the underlying legal framework is the same. Many families living in Catalonia have a relative serving a sentence elsewhere, or the reverse, and in those cases transfer requests to move closer to family are a routine part of the work.

How to reach the office

We are at C/ Aribau 205, 2nd floor — 08021 Barcelona, at the top end of Aribau next to Travessera de Gràcia, where the Eixample meets Sant Gervasi. It is easy to reach and easy to find.

By public transport, the FGC station at Gràcia is a few minutes’ walk away, and the metro stations at Fontana (L3), Diagonal (L3 and L5) and Hospital Clínic (L5) are also within reach. Several bus routes run along Aribau, Muntaner, Travessera de Gràcia and Via Augusta.

If you come by car, there are public car parks around Travessera de Gràcia and Via Augusta. Bear in mind that Barcelona operates a Low Emission Zone; it is worth checking beforehand whether your vehicle is allowed.

We see clients by appointment. Call +34 696 967 181 or +34 937 490 708 and we will arrange a time, including outside normal office hours if the situation calls for it.

Frequently asked questions

Do you work in Catalan?

Yes. We work in Catalan and Spanish alike, in meetings at the office, in communications with the prisoner and in written submissions. This matters particularly in Catalonia, because much of the prison file — treatment board reports, decisions, administrative rulings — is written in Catalan.

Do you visit the prisoner in prison?

Yes. Meeting the prisoner in person is an essential part of the work, not an extra. We travel to the prisons of Catalonia — Brians 1 and 2, Quatre Camins, the Centre Penitenciari de Joves, Wad-Ras, Lledoners, Ponent, Puig de les Basses, Mas d’Enric and the centres oberts — to speak directly to the person, review their situation and prepare submissions from first-hand information.

Do you deal with emergencies at night or at weekends?

Yes. We are available 24 hours because in criminal and prison matters emergencies do not respect office hours: a weekend arrest, an admission to prison, an incident inside the prison, an unexpected transfer. If you call outside office hours, we will assess the situation with you and tell you what can be done straight away.

Do you work with prisons outside Catalonia?

Yes. We take on cases in prisons throughout Spain, including those run by the national prison administration and those in the Basque Country. This is common in transfer cases to move a prisoner closer to family, and where the family lives in Catalonia but the prisoner is serving a sentence in another region.

My relative is in Brians 2 and I live a long way from Barcelona. Do I have to come to the office?

Not necessarily. We can hold the first meeting by video call or by telephone and handle the paperwork online. An in-person meeting at Aribau 205 is useful when there is a lot of material to go through, but it is not a requirement for getting started.

Which court deals with my relative’s case?

It depends on which prison they are in. In Catalonia, prison supervision bodies have region-wide jurisdiction and the prisons are shared among them: most sit at the Ciutat de la Justícia in Barcelona and one in Lleida. Under the reform brought in by Ley Orgánica 1/2025 they have become part of the Tribunales de Instancia as Prison Supervision Sections. Once we have studied the case we will tell you exactly which body is handling it.

Let’s talk about your case

If you have a relative in a prison in Catalonia, or if you have just received a sentence and want to know what scope there is before entering prison, now is the moment to seek advice: in prison law the deadlines are short and the decisions come one after another.

We do not promise results — no serious firm can — but we do promise an honest assessment of your situation, a clear explanation of the routes available and steady work on the file.

Telephone: +34 696 967 181 · +34 937 490 708 (available 24 hours)
Address: C/ Aribau 205, 2nd floor — 08021 Barcelona
Email: info@bbabogadas.com
Write to us using the contact form