Prison Oversight Judge: Powers and Jurisdiction

Posted on Jan 9, 2025 in Law & Jurisprudence

Control of Legality and Enforcement

The powers of the Prison Oversight Judge (JVP) are limited to:

  1. Control of legality in cases of the Prison Service.
  2. Implementation, which is divided into:
  • The enforcement of custodial sentences, understood as imprisonment, personal liability for failure to pay fines, and weekend imprisonment.
  • Implementation of security measures.

Regarding control and execution, the execution of sentences and security measures are designed as a place of criminal enforcement and the imposition of penalties and security measures. Secondly, they focus on the identification of other legal consequences of crime.

There are other penalties, principal or accessory, whose execution is not for the JVP. These include disbarment, suspension of employment or public office, deprivation of the right to drive vehicles or motorcycles, deprivation of the right to possess and carry weapons, and disqualification to reside in certain places.

The jurisdiction of the JVP with fullness only extends to convicted prisoners. With respect to detainees and prisoners, it only reaches the subject of regime (benefits and duties of the administration, communication, discipline, etc.). Other matters, such as an exit permit, depend on the Judiciary.

Powers Derived from the Organic Law on the Penitentiary System (LOGP)

These powers are listed in Article 76 of the LOGP.

Article 76, First Paragraph: Powers to Enforce the Sentence

The enforcement of custodial sentences and security measures is performed according to a distribution of powers between courts and trial courts on the one hand, and the Prison Oversight Courts on the other.

  • Resolve resources relating to amendments that may experience the sentence under the provisions in laws and regulations.
  • Safeguard the rights of inmates.
  • Correct abuses and deviations in meeting regulatory requirements.

Article 76, Second Paragraph

Take all decisions necessary for the pronouncement of decisions so that custodial sentences are carried out, assuming the functions that correspond to the judges and the trial court.

  • a) Issue a detention order for an escaped prisoner.
  • b) Apply pre-trial detention because it is different.
  • d) Recast sentences.
  • Approve, revoke, suspend, or extend probation.
  • Adopt prison benefits.
  • Approve sanctions of solitary confinement longer than fourteen days.
  • Resolve, by way of remedy, the claims made by inmates on disciplinary matters.
  • Resolve resources on initial classification, progression, and regression, either first, second, or third-degree treatment.
  • Agree to apply on petitions and complaints from inmates.
  • Visits to prisons.
  • Allow ordinary permits.
  • Know the way to secure detention facilities.

Article 77

This article establishes the possibility that the JVP makes proposals to the highest administrative organ of prison management: the Management Center.

Powers Under the Organic Law of Judicial Power

Article 78 of the Penal Code is attributed to negligible competition.

  • Article 58 CP: Preventive measures for different causes.
  • Article 60 CP: Occurring mental illness.
  • In security measures: The complexity of the regulation of these measures in the 1995 CP advises a detailed analysis.

Powers Under the Prison Rules of 1996

These are scattered throughout the articles. The JVP is cited in 46 articles, reflecting those in the LOGP and others.