Life imprisonment in Spain was introduced by the Ley Orgánica 1/2015 in March 2015, effective from 1 July 2015. The sentence can be revised, so it is officially called "revisable permanent imprisonment" ().
History
The legislation establishing such a sentence was passed with 181 votes in favour, 138 against and two abstentions. All votes in favour came from the right-wing governing People's Party.
Life imprisonment had previously been introduced in 1822 as a life sentence of forced labour, and in 1848 was revised as life in prison. In 1870, this was reformed to allow the possibility of parole after 30 years; at this time all life prisoners were detained in North Africa or the Canary Islands.
In 1928, the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera removed life imprisonment from the statute books, though the death penalty remained. Capital punishment was retained under Francisco Franco, and the maximum prison sentence was of 30 years. After the Spanish transition to democracy, the death penalty was abolished and the maximum prison sentence remained at 30 until November 2003, when the conservative government of José María Aznar increased it to 40 years for convicted terrorists.
After the adoption of the current statute in 2015, the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) challenged it at the Constitutional Court. In October 2021, by seven votes to three, life imprisonment was deemed constitutional.
Murders are punished with life imprisonment in the following cases:
When the victim is under the age of 16; When the victim is particularly vulnerable; When the murder takes place with sexual offences; When the murderer is part of a criminal organisation; When it is a multiple murder; When the victim is the monarch, consort or heir to the throne; When the victim is a foreign head of state; Cases of Terrorism; Cases of genocide or crimes against humanity.
Convicts must serve between 25 and 35 years of their sentence, depending on the severity of their crimes, before being eligible for parole.
Cases
As of October 2021, 28 people have been sentenced to a reviewable permanent prison sentence, under the 2015 legislation. Five have been women. As of December 2019, after the conviction for the high-profile murder of Diana Quer, Galicia and Andalusia were the autonomous communities with the most life sentences, with three each. Four convicts had their sentences revoked and replaced by determinate prison sentences.