Urdangarin signed himself into the Brieva prison in Avila at 8.13am. He had been given a five-day deadline last week to appear at a penal institution of his choosing for the five-year and ten-month sentence.
The prison has 162 cells. It is a mostly women's prison but a has a small separate area for men. It was chosen in part for its proximity to Madrid to ease visits by his wife, Princess Cristina. She lives in Geneva with their four children and is expected to continue living there. The prison's men's wing also provides a means for guaranteeing his personal security. The same wing was where the ex-director general of the Guardia Civil, Luis Roldan, spent ten years. Urdangarin will have to contend with the solitude of the wing. He is unlikely to engage in communal activities and will communicate only with prison staff.
The regime of his imprisonment is under consideration, as is normal. The prison authorities have up to four months to determine this. The likelihood is that he will serve a quarter of his sentence before being given permissions and moving to "second grade", which allows passes for 36 days per year. He could be given third grade at this stage, by which there are passes for 48 days and the chance, if he is working, of having to only spend nights at the prison on weekdays. Typically, however, third grade applies after half the sentence has been fulfilled. He could be granted parole after two-thirds of the sentence.
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I wonder if I stole public money and also tax fraud would I be put in a luxury part of the prison and allowed out and visits from my family. This man and his wife stole from the public and as members of the royal family of Spain abused their role and I think they should be treated as any other normal person or if not have a harder sentence to make even the royal family of Spain know that they cannot abuse their position and that greed will cost them many more years in the jail . Its totally outrageous.
How the mighty have fallen but I doubt if he will be eating too much porridge and I am sure that his cell will have a lot of home comforts. He will have a lot of time to reflect on his crimes and ponder on where they got him,freedom is the most valuable thing any human being has.