Prisión de Zaballa

Prisión de Zaballa is the prison where Alice Espanet spends five days after the deaths of her twins, held in its infirmary while her case is unresolved. The book presents the prison not simply as the setting for provisional detention but as an institution unequipped, in this instance, to know what to do with a woman in Alice’s condition.

Alice’s Detention

After the investigating judge orders her imprisonment, Alice is taken to Prisión de Zaballa with prescriptions for sleeping pills and sedatives. At that point, no one is sure whether she understands what has happened. The uncertainty surrounding her state accompanies the transfer from hospital to prison: the criminal process has moved forward, but the question of how to respond to her condition remains unsettled.

The Infirmary

Alice spends all five days of her imprisonment in the infirmary. The account stresses that no one knows what to do with her or which protocol to follow, and observes that prisons were not built for women like Alice. That statement makes the infirmary more than a detail of confinement: it marks the gap between the legal act of imprisoning her and the institution’s apparent lack of a fitting response to her circumstances.

Release and Legal Challenge

Getting Alice out of Prisión de Zaballa becomes the immediate priority for her defense. After Ritxi asks his trusted lawyer to find the city’s best criminal advocate, Carmela Basaguren takes the case and rapidly submits an appeal against provisional detention. The defense argues, among other grounds, that Alice presents no risk of repeating the offense or fleeing and has established ties in the area. The prosecution opposes release, emphasizing the gravity of the two murder charges and the possible sentence. The judge nevertheless grants the defense’s request: after surrendering her passport, agreeing to report to the courts every fifteen days, and paying bail of fifty thousand euros, Alice is released.

Narrative Significance

Prisión de Zaballa occupies a brief but consequential place in the account. Alice’s five days there fall between the deaths of the twins and her release, while the legal question of her criminal responsibility is still to be argued. The contrast between her confinement in the infirmary and the swift work of Basaguren’s appeal foregrounds two different responses to the case: incarceration under uncertain procedures, and a defense that contests whether imprisonment is appropriate before trial.