On Thursday, Iñaki Urdangarin will have served two years of a five year and ten month sentence for his involvement in the so-called "caso Nóos".
The husband of Princess Cristina and King Felipe's brother-in-law, Urdangarin is a second grade prisoner, a status that allows him to spend 36 days a year outside prison. Last September, he started to undertake voluntary work at a centre for disabled people. This was initially for two days but was increased to three days a week and involved round trips of 103 kilometres from the prison in Brieva (Ávila) to Pozuelo de Alarcón in the Madrid region.
This work hasn't been possible because of the state of alarm. The Hogar Don Orione placed restrictions on visits the week before the state of alarm was declared in March. This was to protect people at the centre, while for Urdangarin there was the additional factor of mobility. He couldn't be taken to the centre because this would have meant crossing into a different region, something that was prohibited under the state of alarm regulations. In any event, the interior ministry had suspended permissions for prisoner day and short-term releases. This suspension was lifted in the middle of May so long as prisoners would be moving within the same province.
With the lifting of the state of alarm, Urdangarin will be able to resume voluntary work. As to visitors he can receive at the prison, they have also been subject to the restrictions, especially those on mobility. Princess Cristina continues to reside in Geneva with the couple's two youngest children.
Urdangarin has two permits for release for personal reasons which are pending. He has previously had two such permits - one for six days in February and the other for four days over Christmas last year.