Spanish Region Cuts Back on Inmate Snacks as Austerity Takes Its Toll
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As part cost cutting measures aimed at tackling its debt crisis, Spain’s north-eastern region of Catalonia will soon be cutting down on its customary evening snacks for its prison inmates.
According to a regional justice department spokeswoman, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, inmates will no longer receive evening snacks such as fruit or pastry.
As part cost cutting measures aimed at tackling its debt crisis, Spain’s north-eastern region of Catalonia will soon be cutting down on its customary evening snacks for its prison inmates.
According to a regional justice department spokeswoman, who spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, inmates will no longer receive evening snacks such as fruit or pastry.
She said this will provide 2 million euros ($2.5 million) in cost savings each year.
However, the prisoners would continue to receive three meals a day without any reduction in food rations. The spokeswoman added that juvenile centre inmates have been exempted from the new cost-cutting measures.
Austerity has taken on a new meaning in Spain as Spaniards come up with bizarre solutions their new economic reality.
In March, local authorities from the tiny village of Rasquera in north-eastern Spain approved a land lease to a local cannabis advocacy group, which would allow them to grow and harvest marijuana legally.
The bold decision would see the creation of 40 jobs, for a population of 900 people, with the hope of generating enough income to pay off their 1.3 million euros debt in a period of two years.
Related Story: Spanish Town Wants To Grow Marijuana To Pay Off Debt
Similarly, high-end escorts in Madrid had reportedly gone on a strike against bankers, demanding that their banks opened up credit lines for cash-strapped families and firms.
According to an escort who had taken part in the strike, “we (escorts) are the only ones with a real ability to pressure the banking sector.”
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Spain has undertaken its most austere budget cuts since it became a democracy in 1977, with the government slashing the budget by 17 percent in April, equivalent to 27 billion euros in spending cuts.
Reuters reported yesterday that “Spain’s government is putting finishing touches to an up to 30 billion euro package of spending cuts and tax hikes to help it meet this year’s deficit targets.”
The measures are likely to be announced next week, when Spain receives official approval from EU regulators to be given an extra year to meet its deficit goals.
The new austerity drive aims to put Spain back on track to meet its deficit goals for 2012, though some questioned whether it would simply add to the country’s problems by entrenching its recession even more deeply.
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Related Story: Europe’s Policy Problem: Balancing Austerity With Economic Growth
