Workers of the Centre d'Iniciatives per a la Reinserció (CIRE) of the Mas d'Enric penitentiary center concentrated this Wednesday in front of the prison entrance, in Tarragona, to denounce the institutional abandonment they attribute to the Departament de Justícia and demand labor equalization with prison officials.
The protest focused on a difference that the staff considers unjustified. CIRE personnel maintain that they work inside prisons, assume the same risks, and are part of the same penitentiary system, but they were left out of the labor, economic, and security improvements agreed upon in 2024 after the murder of a colleague, which did benefit the officials.
The protest recalled that Núria was murdered two years ago in Mas d'Enric
About thirty attendees participated in the rally and unfurled a banner with the slogan CIRE som justícia. Equiparació ja. They also displayed posters demanding more security, more recognition, and immediate equalization.
During the ceremony, the staff paid tribute to Núria, a worker at the center who was murdered two years ago during her workday. That remembrance marked a mobilization focused on the conditions of those who carry out their work inside the prison without the same coverage as civil servants.
The manifesto read during the protest denounced that CIRE personnel were excluded from the improvements agreed upon in 2024 after that crime. The text maintains that the administration left them out of all measures despite sharing risks and functions within the prison system.
"We work inside prisons, we assume the same risks and we sustain the same penitentiary system, but the administration has left us out of all improvements. This is intolerable discrimination." - Manifesto read at the rally
The staff claims to be an agent of authority like civil servants since this year
The mobilization of Mas d'Enric was part of a simultaneous call in different penitentiary and juvenile justice educational centers in Catalonia. The main demand is to equalize the conditions of CIRE staff with those of prison officials.
Among the demands is that CIRE workers obtain the consideration of an authority agent. Prison officials have had that status recognized since the beginning of this year, and the staff protests because that protection has not been extended to those who share workspace and exposure to the same type of incidents.
A staff representative intervened during the rally to link that claim with the response to aggressions within the centers.
"We are asking for it because in the end, an aggression cannot be one thing for some and another for us." - Staff representative, rally at Mas d'Enric
The staff demands that the Department of Justice correct this difference and improve both working conditions and security measures in the penitentiary centers. The protest in Tarragona gathered about thirty attendees in front of the entrance of Mas d'Enric this Wednesday.