Photo: Bernat Armangue
That's a jail cell in the F1 section of the Aranjuez prison in Spain, designed to let imprisoned parents to live with their children!
Welcome to a jail Spain says is the only the one in the world with cell units for families: Disney characters on the walls, a nursery, a playground for toddlers. The idea is for kids to bond with their imprisoned parents while young enough to be oblivious to their surroundings, and for inmates seeking rehabilitation to learn parenting skills. The prison in this town 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Madrid has 36 cell units for families, although now only 16 are occupied, most with Latin Americans. The units of the special F-1 section are known in jail jargon as 'five-star cells'.
That said, this is hardly unique. It's actually quite common in some European countries. And it makes sense, you want people that are released from jail to be integrated in their surroundings and not lose all outside contact. That way they're much less likely to commit crimes again.
about the post... I really like this idea. I can see some people with absolutely zero parenting skills greatly benefiting from this. there are just those kinds of people that never learned how to be a good mother or father from their own parents so to me if there is any more important lesson to learn,(and why not while in prison?) its how to be a parent.
Spaniards might already have broader social circles or wider families rooted in Madrid. These may take care of the kids when both parents are in prison.
Mom and dad in prison means a messy family most of the time, unsuitable for kids all along.
This is not the case. The most prevalent crime for this kind of functioning families may be one-time drug-smuggling. This crime is frequent in some immigration routes to Spain.
The highest crime rate for migrants in Spain does not go to latin-americans, but they may have more structured families than other groups.
Latino (Sp.) 1. -> Latinoamericano (In Spain this is what you mean by Latino 99.9% of the time). 2. Person from the region of Lazio, Italy.
América (Sp.) The landmass of Northern and Southern America.