Social Democrats Table 22 Amendments for Shorter Pre-Trial Detention in Prison Bill

**Partit Socialdemòcrata tables 22 amendments pushing even shorter pre-trial detention limits in penitentiary bill**

Opposition parties have submitted amendments to the government's bill on penitentiary and penal measures, with the Partit Socialdemòcrata (PS) proposing the most aggressive reductions to pre-trial detention periods.

Demòcrates, the governing coalition, presented 11 amendments to cap custody in the trial court phase at three months for minor offences and nine months for major ones. This would reduce overall pre-trial detention—spanning investigation and trial stages—to nine months for minor cases and 19 to 21 months for the most serious, such as homicide, murder, drug trafficking or money laundering.

The government's bill had already shortened initial pre-trial periods before the trial court to eight months for minor offences (four months plus one extension) and up to 20 months for severe major cases (with multiple extensions). In the trial phase, it set six months for minor offences and 10 to 12 months for major ones.

PS went further with 22 amendments, seeking to cut trial-phase limits to two months for minor offences and six months for major ones from the notification of case closure. PS group president Susanna Vela also proposed limiting solitary confinement to eight days, down from 14, citing risks of undermining its disciplinary purpose and increasing administrative burdens.

Demòcrates' amendments would further trim post-conviction appeal detention from 18 months to eight months. They also require multidisciplinary assessments for exceptions to standard regimes, prior civil court approval for non-consensual medical treatments followed by judicial review involving the inmate, lawyer and prosecutor, and proportionality in asset seizures during probes.

Concòrdia, the main opposition party, offered 10 amendments. Three challenge harsher penalties for drugged driving, refusing tests or theft, which replace arrest options with one- or two-year prison terms. Concòrdia argues arrests should remain to combat social disconnection and support reintegration.

Following Superior Council of Justice guidance, Concòrdia aims to speed disciplinary processes by allowing instructors to deny non-appealable inmate-requested tests without immediate justification, addressing judicial backlogs. On forced medical treatments, it would restrict them to cases where an inmate's will is unknowable or risks threaten life, health or others—responding to external reports on potential overmedication and "pharmacological restraints" in the prison. Concòrdia also seeks retroactive application of favourable new rules to ongoing cases.