Amadeu Casellas is a Spanish prisoner and anarchist militant, known for distributing the money he stole from various banking entities and for the hunger strikes during recent years of his prison sentences .
from thefreeonline on 6th July 2024 info LlibertatAmadeu.org
Amadeu came into contact with anarchism at the age of 14, and since 1976 carried out multiple bank robberies to finance workers’ and social struggles, distributing the money between revolutionary organizations and people who needed it. Due to these acts, the Spanish press called him on multiple occasions the Spanish Robin Hood..
Amadeu was taken seriously ill in June 2024 when nearly finished his latest prison sentence for allegedly robbing a jewellery shop. He’s been jailed for a total of over 26 years! He was put into an induced coma in intensive care as his organs had stopped working.
His Support Group reports that after nearly two weeks he was taken off the coma and is now recovering, and reportedly keen to get back into action, to the delight of his many friends and family!
Supporters await Amadeu’s prison release after first 22 years
Amadeu Casellas, the anarchist who was first imprisoned for 22 years for having robbed banks in his youth to distribute the money to poor families, published his book 1n 2013 – ‘A reflection of society. Chronicle of an experience in the prisons of democracy.’-( It’s ‘out of print’ at present. A few copies here.. https://www.todostuslibros.com/libros/un-reflejo-de-la-sociedad_978-84-617-2798-8 )
In this “diary” he tells of his life in Spanish prisons, explains how he organized the prisoners to obtain social achievements but also denounces corruption, mafias, influence peddling and business through organizations such as the CIRE, of which the Pujol-Ferrusola family benefited.
Interview with Amadeu Casellas on the Prison Gulag
with Fernando Romero / Journalist.
Are prisons a business?
Of course, a great deal for many entrepreneurs. They provide them with personnel, they don’t need a factory, they don’t pay for electricity… they do it sitting from the office and they have all the people they need at their service. Then they throw you out of work without compensation. In addition, they save a lot on salaries because they do not pay more than 300 euros.
Who benefits?
Several companies. The most important is El Corte Inglés, which uses prisoners for textile production. The prisoners sew for themselves and are paid little and the material they produce is then sold to the prisons themselves. Florentino Pérez has also taken advantage. He has built 30 prisons for the State.
In his book he denounces this business, gives names and surnames and denounces influence peddling and large-scale corruption. Have you had problems publishing it?
Everything I say is true. There is no catch. Names of jailers who have been prison directors come up. I’m talking about the pyramidal structure of the CIRE, a network created around the Pujol-Ferrusola family, who got paid without doing anything. It also serves to pay favors, such as the case of Santiago Martínez, dismissed from the Lérida prison and now with a position in the CIRE.
What is CIRE and how does it work?
They come from all the prisons in Spain to learn about the model. Before, commissaries sold products at cost price with 5% more. The CIRE has changed the name of the commissaries and calls them boutiques, with very high prices. For example, water costs 30 cents on the street and 60 in prison, the same with soft drinks and other products. Prices have skyrocketed. Nobody knows where those profits go.
The Ponent prison had a turnover of 5.4 million euros last year. We count that of that amount 400,000 euros go to prisoners and the remaining 5 million to people who get rich. In Lérida the jailers have high-end 4×4 cars and some with swimming pools at home. Their salaries don’t cover that. I asked for an audit for the CIRE and they told me that I was crazy, that it worked like a mafia and that my life was at stake.
What are the prisons of democracy like?
They are prisons inherited from Franco’s regime. When I entered prison in Catalonia, the jailers were dressed as soldiers. After the victory of the PSOE, in 1982, they changed their clothes and that was what the “democratic” change consisted of. They remain the same, but now they use more effective methods to put the prisoners to sleep: legal drugs that come from the prison infirmaries, because what they want is a sleeping yard that won’t give them problems.
Why were you arrested?
For belonging to an armed gang, robbing banks and illegal possession of weapons. With the money we expropriated from the banks we paid for the group’s infrastructure, propaganda, etc. and another we gave to needy families, with many children and who had subsistence problems.
How many escapes did you take part in?
Three, in the Model of Barcelona, in Gerona and in Figueras. Then I had many more attempts, on the roof and through tunnels.
And that worsened your sentences?
No, if the escapes are clean and there is no violence against people, they will not give you more years.
Do citizens know the reality of prisons?
Not at all. Information about prisons is manipulated a lot. Sometimes they try to do a television report but they prepare everything to give an image that is not real, with non-existent workshops, talking to prisoners who have little left to leave and therefore are not going to say anything bad. They choose people well.
Forced labor
Who goes into prisons today?
The poor never leave and the rich never enter. Today we see politicians, bankers, corrupt businessmen, the Gürtel Case and others parade… but you see that their processes drag on and they do not end up in prison and if they do, like Galindo, they are later pardoned. Most of the prisoners have common crimes, but since they do not have money to defend themselves, they stay there. It is a reality that is hidden, that is why they do not want journalists to enter prisons. I agree that whoever commits a crime has to pay, but the Constitution speaks of rights and duties.
Related Anarchist Bank Robbers
Lucio Urtubia: Inspiring anarchist, bank robber, forger, fugitive and bricklayer. Lucio’s adventures have been made into a major film now on Netflix!. https://thefreeonline.com/2022/12/04/lucio-urtubia-inspiring-anarchist-bank-robber-forger-fugitive-and-bricklayer/
‘Until We Are All Free’..Diary and Ideas of an Anarchist Bank Robber…. Gabi was finally freed on June 10th 2016 and lives in Galicia but was later rearrested and they want him to do 20 years more https://thefreeonline.com/2017/07/13/diary-and-ideas-of-an-anarchist-bank-robber/
‘RobinHood ‘bankrobber’ to support Social Revolution. says : » Let’s change the world..» Enric Duran Giralt This Catalan activist came to illegally obtain half a million euros in bank loans which he then then divided among projects and anti-capitalist movements .Enric Duran – Wikipedia.
7 Years Jail for Robbing a Bank ..While Criminal Banksters walk Free https://thefreeonline.com/2017/06/09/anarchist-jailed-for-bank-expropriation/
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