Although the judgment is provisional, LAB has assessed as a step the judgment of the High Court of Justice of the Basque Country which recognizes a Basque political prisoner the right to unemployment.

The prisoner worked for more than a year in prison through the Basque Agency for Social Reintegration. After obtaining the third grade in February 2023, he applied for unemployment for this job, which was denied by the State Public Employment Service (SEPE).

He then went to court, but a court in Bilbao did not give him that right. Now, in response to the appeal to this judgment, the Supreme Court says otherwise: "The Court says that the Spanish Constitution itself recognizes no prisoner's right to paid work and therefore to benefit from Social Security, without exception," LAB explained.

The union has welcomed this resolution and has described it as a "step" towards the recognition of the fundamental rights of prisoners, as it may be a precedent.

"One of the bases of a non-punitive justice system is to recognize the prisoner's fundamental rights to develop his life project," says LAB. In this regard, it has called for an end to the exceptional measures that apply to Basque prisoners.