Commonly known as “Salto del Negro”, Las Palmas I is a correctional facility located close to the north coast of Gran Canaria. In 20??, exeteco, working on behalf of BSWi, helped create a production workshop within the prison. The objective was to provide inmates with valuable skills that would help them to find gainful employment on release.

The Salto del Negro production workshop was designed in collaboration with the Organismo Autónomo de Trabajo penitenciario (independent body for prison labor), a body of the Spanish Home Office. It was designed to be used as a training center for inmates learning metalworking skills.

Exeteco installed all the equipment necessary for the production of metal goods and contracted instructors and master metalworkers to run training courses within the facility. They also designed courses for civil servants working at the prison to provide them with the necessary skills and experience to manage the workshops.

Based on the results of a cost-benefit analysis, the workshops were used to manufacture high-security components that could be used in the construction of future facilities and the updating of existing ones. Inmates learnt how to produce metal components such as windows and doors and were also trained in locksmithing. Those classified as Grade 3* or ‘Open Regime’ inmates were also allowed to work outside of the prison, helping them to prepare for life upon release.

Exeteco helped to standardize maximum-security door and window units across Spain on behalf of the Spanish home office. The company also launched two further production workshops in the Ocaña I and Ocaña II prisons, located in Castilla la Mancha and Monterroso, Galicia. The metal components manufactured in these correctional facilities were used in the construction of the Álava and Pamplona detention centers.

*Prisoners in Spain are assigned a grade from 1 to 3, with Grade 3 granted to those near to the end of their sentence who have behaved consistantly well. Grade-3 inmates can spend time in the outside world to help ease their transition back into society.