Closing of the EPL. Prison works are delayed – Portugal

The outgoing Government predicted that the infrastructure works in the Tires, Alcoentre, Linhó and Sintra prisons would be completed by September, which would be sufficient to collect the inmates currently serving sentences in the EPL. These works make it possible to increase capacity and accommodation capacity and four of the six projects have already been launched (pavilion 3 in Tires and standard pavilions in Alcoentre, Linhó and Sintra) that will be completed by September this year, according to the public document. The “transition folder” also states that projects have already begun to be drawn up to expand the capacity to receive inmates in Caxias and Tires prisons. According to the Government, the total investment until 2026 is 24 million euros and the transfer of the first 162 inmates to leave the EPL should take place by the beginning of the second half of 2024, with the completion of the first contract in Tires.

But although the Government of António Costa has committed to completing the works in one of the Tires prison pavilions by the end of March, sources familiar with the process assure the SATURDAY that won’t happen. “The contract of the contractor who is handling the work stated that he could deliver the complete work by the end of May”, explains the leader of the National Union of the Prison Guard Corps, Rui Santos. “The minister said it would be in March because the Government wanted to finish the works before the elections, but it was never planned to be until March and that won’t happen”, he assures.

Lawyer Vítor Parente Ribeiro, who has spoken several times about the closure of the EPL, also states that the works will not be completed in March. It was expected that these first works in Tires would allow the transfer of 180 inmates from the center of Lisbon, the starting point for putting an end to the infrastructure that began to function as a prison in the 19th century, but with the delays in completing the work, it is not expected that the inmates can begin to be transferred at the beginning of the next semester.

In reply to SATURDAY, the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services (DGRSP) confirms that work is underway to close the Lisbon Prison. The DGRSP also emphasizes that “it has been developing efforts towards the conservation and benefit of its facilities, in order to improve the conditions of its workers and the quality of life of people serving custodial sentences there”.

For several years, the closure of the EPL has been called for, including by the Ombudsman, or by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. In November 2022, the Council of Ministers approved the expenditure and the assumption of multi-annual costs for the works necessary for this closure.

This decision by the Government generated protests in the EPL prison guard, and on the 21st, these professionals began a strike on due diligence (which affects all exits abroad) until April, with the National Union of the Prison Guard Corps (SNCGP) promising to do everything to try to stop the closure of the prison. At the time, SNCGP leader Frederico Morais criticized the Government’s decision to close the EPL by 2026 — with the distribution of that prison population to other prisons in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area — and directly targeted the still Minister of Justice, Catarina Sarmento e Castro, when considering that “he did not even look at the safety of the populations where the inmates will be placed, nor of the guards or inmates”.

Frederico Morais warned that the transfer of EPL inmates to pavilions in Linhó and the Sintra prison, which do not have the best security conditions, will endanger the populations neighboring those prisons, particularly those who live in Quinta da Beloura.

In the public transition folder that the Government of António Costa released, it is indicated that the closure of the Lisbon Prison Establishment (EPL) was a commitment made by the XXIII Government and that it was not completed. Highlighting the “signs of age and degradation” that made this infrastructure unsuitable for carrying out its functions, the executive stressed that he had started the process for its extinction and guaranteed that the works that would allow the transfer of inmates to begin would be ready in March. But the works that are already underway are not finished and prisons cannot yet receive detainees.

The outgoing Government predicted that the infrastructure works in the Tires, Alcoentre, Linhó and Sintra prisons would be completed by September, which would be sufficient to collect the inmates currently serving sentences in the EPL. These works allow for an increase in capacity and accommodation capacity and four of the six projects have already been launched (pavilion 3 in Tires and standard pavilions in Alcoentre, Linhó and Sintra) that will be completed by September this year, according to the public document. The “transition folder” also states that projects have already begun to be drawn up to expand the capacity to receive inmates in Caxias and Tires prisons. According to the Government, the total investment until 2026 is 24 million euros and the transfer of the first 162 inmates to leave the EPL should take place by the beginning of the second half of 2024, with the completion of the first contract in Tires.

But although the Government of António Costa has committed to completing the works in one of the Tires prison pavilions by the end of March, sources familiar with the process assure the SATURDAY that won’t happen. “The contract of the contractor who is handling the work stated that he could deliver the complete work by the end of May”, explains the leader of the National Union of the Prison Guard Corps, Rui Santos. “The minister said it would be in March because the Government wanted to finish the works before the elections, but it was never planned to be until March and that won’t happen”, he assures.