Spain In a prison in the Galicia region, female prisoner Ambra is comfortably playing soccer with 21 male prisoners.
“Let go of the ball,” Ambra, 25, an Albanian, yelled at the male members of the prison soccer team. She pushed them just as they pushed her as they tried to gain control of the ball.
“Why should prison be the only place where men and women cannot live together?” she asked.
Teixeiro Prison, in the Galicia region of northwestern Spain, will introduce a policy allowing male and female inmates to live together in the Nelson Mandela area from 2021, to better prepare them for reintegration into society after serving their sentences.
Ambra (center), plays soccer with male prisoners in Teixeiro prison on October 5. Photo: AFP
Twenty of the 55 prisoners in the Nelson Mandela block are women. They join the men in daily activities such as sports, group therapy and vocational training. They work and eat together. The rest of the time they live in separate cells on the same corridor.
In the cafeteria, female prisoner Cristina is preparing meals with other male and female prisoners. Meanwhile in the gym, female prisoner Helga is working out with the male prisoners.
Spain is considered a pioneer in Europe when it comes to women's rights. The country has been experimenting with co-living in prisons for more than 20 years.
There are currently 20 co-ops in Spain, where 202 female prisoners and 925 male prisoners participate in communal activities. This is just a fraction of Spain's 47,000 prisoners.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's administration is encouraging the development of more mixed-gender cells in Spain's prison system.
"Preparing for life after prison while living with only half the population makes no sense," said Nadia Arias, deputy director of Teixeiro prison.
She said the mixed housing units helped inmates get used to a mixed society. Arias said the initiative also allowed female inmates to access services and programs that were traditionally reserved for men.
Ricardo, who has a lengthy criminal record and has spent time in solitary confinement, said he was hesitant when prison officials suggested moving him to a mixed-gender area, having previously lived with only male prisoners.
Now, he prefers the new area because it is less stressful. The 47-year-old said that in the all-male cell block, "a dirty look can lead to a fight or a stabbing."
Ambra, 25, an Albanian, said men in the general prison block sometimes misunderstood her friendliness and thought she wanted to date or flirt.
“So I put up a barricade,” she explained.
Men's and women's cells in Teixeiro prison on October 5. Photo: AFP
Prison authorities say there have never been any serious incidents in the communal cell block, where many prisoners want to be transferred. In other European countries, communal cell blocks are not common.
France, Spain's neighbor, has allowed mixed gender incarceration since 2009, but no prisons have mixed genders like Teixeiro. Male and female prisoners in France only participate in certain activities outside their cells.
"I think the idea of keeping male and female prisoners together is great, because life outside is the same," Ambra said.
Hong Hanh (According to AFP )
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