Coed Prison Prototype Working Well In Spain

PICASSENT, Spain - Strolling arm in arm across the sunlit courtyard, Luis and Pilar look like any other young couple in love - until they are locked up again at the end of the day.

Crime put them in jail. Good behavior, among other things, allows them to live with about 50 other men and women in Block 4 of Picassent Penitentiary, a radical experiment in coed prison living.

The 2-year-old cell block is the showpiece of a changing prison system in Spain, where harsh conditions and political repression were common just 20 years ago.

In Block 4, the 26 men and 20 women have separate cells and are locked in from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Otherwise, they mingle as they wish.

"Given that we have to be imprisoned, this has got to be the best that's going," said Luis, 33, sentenced to nine years for robbery. "Having each other here gives you hope."

He and Pilar, who is serving time for drug-related robbery, were acquainted on the outside but fell in love at Picassent.

The program has caught the interest of prison authorities in other European countries, among them Ireland and Germany.

Nothing like it exists in the U.S. federal or state prison systems, where 900,000 inmates are segregated by sex, usually in separate institutions.

In Spain, inmates and authorities agree that coed living has greatly reduced the violence and tension common to prison life, and to a significant degree the incidence of homosexual activity.

"To come to Block 4 from the cramped conditions of other prisons is like night and day," said Manuel, 38, a Colombian serving 12 years for cocaine trafficking. "The simple fact of having women around makes you feel more human."

The program is the idea of Mercedes Jabardo, one of Spain's two national directors of penitentiaries and a former warden of Picassent.

She said the initial goal at Block 4 was not sexual integration, but vocational training. Separating men and women eligible for courses was considered discriminatory, so the pilot mixed wing was established.

"The idea is based on the belief that, by creating conditions close to those on the street and everyday life, you're going to end up with prisoners who are better able to cope with reintegration," Jabardo said.

Coed prison living seems to work, but it is too early to evaluate post-prison results, she said.

Picassent is set in orange groves on Spain's southeast Mediterranean coast. Inside the compound, which holds about 2,500 inmates and seems almost like a college campus, are sports facilities, a swimming pool and walls decorated with bright murals.

It is part of a plan to transform the antiquated Spanish prison system into one that emphasizes space, rehabilitation, education and training. By 1997, up to 40 of Spain's 85 penal institutions are to be replaced by 20 new centers resembling Picassent.

Every inmate is entitled to two hours a month of private time with an outside visitor. Mixed-sex activities were introduced in March 1990.

Residents of Block 4 are chosen on the basis of good behavior and a commitment to living and working together. Maximum-security prisoners are excluded.

They decorate their cells as they please and wear street clothes, not uniforms, as in all Spanish prisons. Their days are filled with classes.