73 of 118 ETA prisoners are now in semi-liberty, according to a support group

A significant majority of remaining ETA prisoners are now living under semi-liberty conditions, according to Sare, a citizen support platform for the inmates. The group reports that out of 118 ETA prisoners held in Spanish and French facilities as of late April, 73 individuals, or 62%, are now permitted to leave prison daily. This status is achieved through either third-degree (open regime) or the application of Article 100.2 of the Penitentiary Regulations, which allows for flexible prison life conditions for those in second degree.

Sare has set an ambitious goal: to see virtually all ETA inmates either released or enjoying some form of semi-liberty by the close of 2027. Their estimates suggest that only a small group, primarily those convicted under the penal code reform that increased the maximum sentence for terrorism offenses to 40 years, will not have attained this status by then. This marks a substantial reduction from 2014, when Sare reported 465 ETA prisoners, including 140 in France.

The platform attributes the increased number of semi-liberty statuses to two main factors. Firstly, the implementation of the "Basque penitentiary model" by the Vitoria-Gasteiz government, which took over management of three Basque prisons in October 2021. Since then, the Basque government's Department of Justice and Human Rights has granted third-degree status to approximately 100 prisoners and applied Article 100.2 to another twenty, although some of these decisions have been overturned by the National Court. Secondly, Sare highlights a legal reform passed unanimously by the Congress of Deputies in October 2024. This reform allows prisoners to deduct time served for the same offense in foreign prisons from their sentences. Five ETA prisoners and one GRAPO inmate have been released since its approval, while others have seen their sentences reduced, bringing them closer to freedom.

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In 2014, the year the platform emerged, there were 465 ETA prisoners, 140 of them in France, compared to just over a hundred currently, with only two in French prisons.