For the fourth consecutive day this Monday, the Catalan government has been unable to guarantee normality in the prisons, with chaos in the penitentiary centres being the result. It was not until the start of this new week that a mini-crisis cabinet was formed, chaired by the vice-president and minister for the presidency, Laura Vilagrà, and with the head of interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, and the head of justice, Gemma Ubasart, in what, in practice, is nothing more than a takeover of the situation by the leadership of the Catalan executive, displacing the portfolio holder, because her inability to close the conflict has been demonstrated. In the background of all this, the murder of a cook in Mas d'Enric prison near Tarragona, at the hands of an inmate, last Wednesday. The convict, who is the confessed murderer of a woman whose throat was cut, was serving an 11-year prison term and was working as a kitchen hand, it seems, in a space full of knives.
Undoubtedly, when the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, appeared at the Palau de la Generalitat last Wednesday, announcing an election in Catalonia for May 12th, after failing to pass the Catalan government budget, among all the variables he would have considered, the management of an unforeseen crisis that would end up overshadowing his political initiative was not one of them. The spin doctors at the Palau, the people in charge of making strategic moves and building a narrative - something increasingly common in all the power centres of the world - were either overcome by the situation or have let it snowball for too long. The way you manage prisons will never give you any electoral advantage, but instead, it can put you in the spotlight if one loses control while handling a conflict, which is what ended up happening.
Things seem headed more towards the resolution of the crisis due to the fatigue of the unions than due to the conviction of the administration
Probably, there has been a lack of skill and discernment at the head of the justice ministry. A more humble and empathetic attitude towards the prison officers' unions by Gemma Ubasart would have helped. In addition, for the result of the internal investigation, announced by the ministry four days ago, to have already been made public. Although the calls for dialogue by the Generalitat have been recurrent from the beginning, the requests for resignation from the other side have not taken long to be heard. So much so that the unions will not attend the meetings that have been called until heads are seen to roll, something which did not happen at first and is now much more difficult. In part, because each side has set out its discourse and things seem headed more towards a resolution of the crisis due to fatigue on the part of the unions than through the conviction of the administration.
In any case, the minister's appearance in Parliament, which she announced at the start of the crisis, is also pending. As a collateral consequence, there is also the cancellation of around 50 trials and the annulment of 108 judicial proceedings since the unions and workers started the protest in Tarragona last Wednesday. From this Tuesday, the Mossos d'Esquadra will reinforce their presence at the prison gates to avoid blockades, in an attempt to moderate the situation created, but at the same time, trying to avoid - as they have done up till now with a lot of dexterity - turning a political conflict into an even worse one of public order. Which is not impossible given the tense situation in the prisons. The manual of politics advises one to be extremely careful when a problem arises, and one gets the impression that, this time, diligence was lacking. And, in addition, a corridor has been opened for other sectors of society to take an identical path, taking advantage of the election campaign already underway, even if, to use its correct label, it is still only the pre-campaign.