Jailed Catalan Leaders Given “Leave” From Prison

The Catalonian government has agreed to change the sentence of the nine jailed activists to the “third degree”, which is a kind of semi-freedom, meaning the prisoners will be able to spend weekdays and weekends at home, returning to prison to sleep.

The Catalan leaders Oriol Junqueras, Raül Romeva, Carme Forcadell, Jordi Sànchez, Jordi Cuixart, Jordi Turull, Josep Rull, Dolors Bassa y Quim Forn, jailed for their involvement in the Catalan referendum of 2017, will be allowed to leave the prison from Monday to Friday to work, volunteer or take care of family members, and return to the jail in the evening, in accordance with Article 100.2 of Spanish prison regulations. Instead of having 36 days of allowance, they will now have 48 days a year.

The Catalan leaders were sentenced to prison for 9 to 13 years for sedition and some for embezzlement. But after almost three years behind bars, they can be given the “third degree”, which is a way to still serve a prison sentence with a higher degree of freedom.