FIES (, meaning "Files of Inmates under Special Monitoring") is a restrictive Spanish prison regime which involves 22 hours of

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

every day. After first being imposed on those convicted of terrorism or membership of armed groups such as

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

, it was extended to particularly violent prisoners and major drug traffickers. FIES has been criticised for being applied to prisoners who have not committed offences covered by the regime.

Regime

The FIES regime (, meaning "Files of Inmates under Special Monitoring") places prisoners into a restrictive system which involves 22 hours of

every day, monitoring of all communications without judicial oversight and frequent changes of both cell and prison. FIES was first mentioned in 1989 in a circular which advised placing prisoners who were convicted of terrorism or membership of armed groups into the regime; two years later it was extended to include particularly violent prisoners and major drug traffickers. Under FIES, all details about the prisoner's existence and interactions are recorded. In 2002, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Committee Against Torture criticised FIES and the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the highest court in the Kingdom of Spain. Originally established pursuant to Title V of the Constitution of 1812 to replace —in all matters that affected justice— the System of Councils, and currently regulat ...

modified the regime in 2009. As of 2021, it covered five categories, namely: FIES-1 CD (Direct Control); FIES-2 DO (Organized Delinquency); FIES-3 BA (Armed Groups), FIES-4 FS (Security); FIES-5 CE (Special Characteristics). The first prison to use the FIES regime was in

Badajoz Badajoz (; formerly written ''Badajos'' in English) is the capital of the Province of Badajoz in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. It is situated close to the Portuguese border, on the left bank of the river Guadiana. The population ...

and Patxi Zamoro was the first FIES inmate.

Anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

wrote a book about his incarceration entitled ''Huye, hombre, huye: diario de un prisono FIES'' (''Flee, man, flee: diary of a FIES prisoner''); he died in the FIES unit at Coruna in 2005.

Insurrectionary anarchist Insurrectionary anarchism is a revolutionary theory and tendency within the anarchist movement that emphasizes insurrection as a revolutionary practice. It is critical of formal organizations such as labor unions and federations that are based o ...

Gabriel Pombo da Silva escaped from a FIES unit in 2004 before being re-arrested and put back in the regime in 2020, under the FIES-5 category. Other prisoners such as Jose Antonio Cano have killed themselves whilst incarcerated. In 2018, there were prisoners held under the FIES regime at and Puerto III, the high security section of . FIES has been criticised for being applied to prisoners who have not committed offences covered by the regime. For example, Vladimir Kokorev, Yulia Maleeva and their son Igor were arrested on an Interpol notice in

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

in 2015, on suspicion of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

on behalf of Teodoro Obiang, President of Equatorial Guinea. They were extradited to Spain and held in pre-trial detention in a prison on the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

under the FIES regime, without any charge being made against them. In 2019, their lawyer took their case to the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

. In another case, the non-governmental organisation Fair Trials noted that ten young people were arrested after a bar fight with two off-duty police officers in Alsasua, in the province of

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

. Three were held for eighteen months in pre-trial detention under the FIES regime before being convicted on charges not related to terrorism. Basque National Liberation Movement prisoners have been held under FIES. After ETA ceased armed struggle in 2011, the General Secretariat of Penitentiary Institutions confirmed that 40

prisoners including Iñaki Bilbao Goikoetxea would remain in the FIES regime. Other inmates have included murderer Fabrizio João Silva, jihadist Younes Zayyad, and Roberto Vaquero, general secretary of the Marxist–Leninist Party (Communist Reconstruction), who was convicted of possession of explosives and collaboration with the

Kurdistan Workers' Party The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...

(PKK), a proscribed group in Spain. Politician Rodrigo Rato was convicted on

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

charges and placed into the FIES regime in 2017 alongside 14 co-conspirators. Two puppeteers were detained under FIES category 3 (membership of armed groups) after a performance in 2016, before being acquitted at trial.

Regime

See also

References

Further reading