Prison officers at Catalonia's Lledoners penitentiary, where seven of the nine Catalan political prisoners are being held on remand, have foiled an attempt by another inmate to film the jailed pro-independence leaders with a mobile telephone, in order to sell the resulting images.
An internal investigation detected the presence of a mobile phone in the prison module, according to a report in the digital daily Nació Digital, confirmed by the justice department. The inmate with the phone explained after being caught by prison guards that he had received an offer of 15,000 euros to sell videos showing the politicians inside the penitentiary. The inmate was punished by being transferred to a high-security wing of the prison.
Sources in the justice department explained that the mobile phone was found "after several searches in different spaces of the centre and thanks to the diligent efforts of the prison officers of Lledoners". The prisoner found in possession of the phone is serving a sentence due to run until 2022 for drug trafficking.
Last month, a video of three of the prisoners was leaked to the press. Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva and Quim Forn were filmed in Madrid's Estremera prison, in a video which showed them carrying out their daily activities. Fortunately, on this latest occasion, the right to privacy of the pro-independence ministers and civic leaders was not violated, unlike in Estremera. It is prohibited for prisoners to have access to any device to communicate with the outside world.
Lledoners prison, near the Catalan city of Manresa, is the penitentiary where the 7 males among the imprisoned pro-independence leaders are being held: Junqueras, Romeva, and Forn, along with Jordi Turull, Jordi Sànchez, Josep Rull, and Jordi Cuixart. The two female politicans jailed on remand on the case, Carmen Forcadell and Dolors Bassa, are in Puig de les Basses prison, near Figueres.