Life imprisonment in Spain

In 1870, this was reformed to allow the possibility of parole after 30 years; at this time all life prisoners were detained in North Africa or the Canary Islands.

[2] In 1928, the military dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera removed life imprisonment from the statute books, though the death penalty remained.

[2] After the Spanish transition to democracy, the death penalty was abolished and the maximum prison sentence remained at 30 until November 2003, when the government of José María Aznar increased it to 40 years for convicted terrorists.

[4] Murders are punished with life imprisonment in the following cases:[4] Convicts must serve between 25 and 35 years of their sentence, depending on the severity of their crimes, before being eligible for parole.

As of December 2019, after the conviction for the high-profile murder of Diana Quer, Galicia and Andalusia were the autonomous communities with the most life sentences, with three each.