The Navarre prison health system will become the responsibility of the Government of Navarre, according to an agreement reached this Tuesday in Madrid between the President of the Government of Navarre, María Chivite, and the Minister of Territorial Policy and Public Service, Miquel Iceta. The transfer of powers is about to be signed on 24 May, because by then the Interterritorial Commission between Navarre and the Spanish State already has a date.

At present, the Government of Navarra has in place a generalized model in the Spanish State since 1986 with regard to prison health: The Penitentiary Administration is in charge of the first care and specialized care of the National Health System. In this model, the first attention goes to the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions of Spain, which makes it easier for health criteria to be put before others. This is confirmed by Jaiki Hadi, in the report The Health of Prisoners, published in number 2677 of ARGIA, collecting this excluded right: “The fact that doctors are prison officials means that prison rules are applied more than once than the prisoner’s health needs.”

The competence of prisons in the CAPV is in tranferir

In the prisons of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa, the health management of prisoners has followed a different model since 2011. Since then, health management in CAPV prisons has been dependent on Osakidetza.

However, beyond the health sector, the exclusive competence in prison management will soon pass into the hands of the Basque Government. This was agreed last week by the Basque Government and the Spanish Government. On 10 May the Joint Transfer Commission will sign the agreement for the transfer of powers and the amendments will become effective on 1 October.

According to the data provided by the Basque Government, with this change, some 1,300 inmates and nearly 700 workers will be placed in charge.