FIGUERES, Spain – Inmates at Puig de les Basses prison in Figueres have hacked the Catalan Justice Department’s computer systems and gained unauthorised access to shared documentation stored on network drives, the Departament de Justícia i Qualitat Democràtica has confirmed.
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Prison authorities detected the breach and immediately activated security measures to expel the intruders. The alleged perpetrators have already been identified, according to the department. The incident represents an escalation in tensions within Catalonia’s prison system, which has already been strained by almost daily assaults on staff by inmates.
According to initial information, the department stated that “no access to critical penitentiary information systems has occurred, nor has the functioning of the centre’s services been compromised.” Following the attack, the Catalan Cybersecurity Agency has been contacted to conduct a thorough technical analysis to determine how the access occurred and what potential impacts it may have had.
Internos de la cárcel de Puig de les Basses 'hackean' el sistema informático de la Generalitat https://t.co/LckbpOzrgj
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The incident has been reported to the Figueres duty court, and the Catalan Data Protection Authority has been notified. All prisons in Catalonia are “reinforcing security measures to prevent similar incidents,” the department said. The director general of Penitentiary Affairs, Domingo Estepa, has met with union representatives to inform them of the incident and the measures adopted.
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However, trade unions have stated that the Puig de les Basses breach is not an isolated incident. In a statement released after the facts became public, SICAP-FEPOL reported that since 2025, they have been warning that inmates in various Catalan prisons have been able to access confidential Justice Department data from the very computers available to them in penitentiary centres. They claim that internal documents containing personal and health-related data have been exposed, which, according to them, “puts penitentiary security at risk.” The unions have called for urgent measures to address systemic vulnerabilities in the prison system’s IT infrastructure, as the investigation continues to determine the full extent of the breach and whether any data has been compromised. Justice officials have reiterated that they are taking the matter seriously and are working to prevent future incidents.
