Fear of prison and digital surveillance unites a Spanish current-affairs forum
A message warns that the internet will be taken over in three years and many will end up in prison. The cost per inmate, 21,299 euros a year, becomes the…
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
From "they're coming for us" to an inmate's shopping list
A brief, almost telegraphic message peine the conversation: "Get used to it. They're coming for us." In less than three years, according to that first warning, the network hosting the discussion would be taken over and many of its participants would be on their way to jail. What began as a prophecy turned into an exercise in dark humour with figures: the cost of keeping an inmate in Spain, **21,299 euros a year**, or in other words, **58.3 euros a day**, according to a calculation circulating in the thread. From there, the conversation drifted towards a more serious matter: the suspicion that speaking your mind online will eventually have legal consequences.
The discussion is not about just any forum. It is about a mood. Underlying it all is the idea that freedom of expression online is under threat and that the State is watching ever more closely what people write. Some messages take it as a literal warning: "In three months you'll need to identify yourself to connect to the internet." Others reduce it to a running joke. But the antiestéticar, or its parody, runs through the entire exchange.
The inmate calculation: 58.3 euros a day for food and shelter
The most frequently repeated figure in the exchange is not a threat but an arithmetic sum. One participant breaks down the cost of the Spanish prison system: **21,299 euros per inmate per year**, obtained by dividing the budget of Instituciones Penitenciarias (Spain's prison service) by the total number of inmates. The figure becomes the axis of the jokes: "free food, free TV, free gym." The irony goes so far that someone asks for the raid to happen "soon" so as to take advantage of the perks. The most repeated quip: "3 meals a day, a library and unemployment benefits on release."
The humour does not hide a real unease. Several messages mention the possibility that the police already have a file on what is being written. "The police must already have a good file on my HATRED," one writes. The joke about the "CNI" (Spain's intelligence service) and the "dirty tricks department" appears in more than one post. The result is a strange mixture: they laugh about prison while speculating that it might actually happen.
Online identification: from anonymity to a digital ID
The conversation shifts to control of the internet. Some claim that identification to browse is a matter of months away: "In three months you'll need to identify yourself to connect to the internet." The claim is repeated in various forms and linked to the idea that anonymity's days are numbered. Another message takes it into the realm of geolocation: "You're already identified. Your IP says more than your words."
The antiestéticar of surveillance blends with distrust of the moderators and of the platform itself. One message asserts that censorship is already at work: "threads demanding accountability from managers and politicians are deleted, hidden or buried." The suspicion that the forum is "taken over" is nothing new, but here it is presented as a fait accompli. The paradox is that, according to another message, that same space serves to keep "the nutcases controlled and located at all times."
The political twist: from antiestéticar of prison to electoral victory
As the conversation pogre, the tone changes. Prison stops being a threat and becomes a scenario some wish upon their adversaries. "When Feijóo wins, everyone to jail," someone writes. Politics takes centre stage: a future PP government is mentioned, there is talk of "reds, purples and idiots of any other colour," and the prediction that "wokism will be over in less than a month." The initial antiestéticar turns into hope for revenge.
That shift is not unanimous. Against those celebrating a change of cycle, others predict the opposite: "In 2030 we'll have PSOE and Pedro Sánchez for at least 4 more years." The discussion becomes a contest over who will control the machinery of the State and therefore decide what may be said. Prison is no longer the dreaded destination but the punishment wished upon the rival.
Freedom of expression in the age of digital surveillance
The underlying issue is a question that goes beyond politics: how far does freedom of expression extend online? The most pessimistic messages speak of a future in which "Spain still exists" in five years, or claim that the European Union has become a kind of "EUSSR." The comparison with the USSR appears in several messages, always as a warning. The idea that the State monitors and punishes dissent is taken for granted.
Some try to defuse the tension with humour: "Don't worry, wokism will be over in less than a month and half of the police leadership will be sent to the freezer." The joke serves to dodge the underlying question. But what is truly striking is not a threat but a figure: **21,299 euros a year** per inmate. At that cost, prison is not just a punishment, it is a business. And in the conversation, no one seems willing to give up the irony.
This article is based on messages posted on a current-affairs forum and does not attribute any of the opinions expressed to any specific individual.
A brief, almost telegraphic message peine the conversation: "Get used to it. They're coming for us." In less than three years, according to that first warning, the network hosting the discussion would be taken over and many of its participants would be on their way to jail. What began as a prophecy turned into an exercise in dark humour with figures: the cost of keeping an inmate in Spain, **21,299 euros a year**, or in other words, **58.3 euros a day**, according to a calculation circulating in the thread. From there, the conversation drifted towards a more serious matter: the suspicion that speaking your mind online will eventually have legal consequences.
The discussion is not about just any forum. It is about a mood. Underlying it all is the idea that freedom of expression online is under threat and that the State is watching ever more closely what people write. Some messages take it as a literal warning: "In three months you'll need to identify yourself to connect to the internet." Others reduce it to a running joke. But the antiestéticar, or its parody, runs through the entire exchange.
The inmate calculation: 58.3 euros a day for food and shelter
The most frequently repeated figure in the exchange is not a threat but an arithmetic sum. One participant breaks down the cost of the Spanish prison system: **21,299 euros per inmate per year**, obtained by dividing the budget of Instituciones Penitenciarias (Spain's prison service) by the total number of inmates. The figure becomes the axis of the jokes: "free food, free TV, free gym." The irony goes so far that someone asks for the raid to happen "soon" so as to take advantage of the perks. The most repeated quip: "3 meals a day, a library and unemployment benefits on release."
The humour does not hide a real unease. Several messages mention the possibility that the police already have a file on what is being written. "The police must already have a good file on my HATRED," one writes. The joke about the "CNI" (Spain's intelligence service) and the "dirty tricks department" appears in more than one post. The result is a strange mixture: they laugh about prison while speculating that it might actually happen.
Online identification: from anonymity to a digital ID
The conversation shifts to control of the internet. Some claim that identification to browse is a matter of months away: "In three months you'll need to identify yourself to connect to the internet." The claim is repeated in various forms and linked to the idea that anonymity's days are numbered. Another message takes it into the realm of geolocation: "You're already identified. Your IP says more than your words."
The antiestéticar of surveillance blends with distrust of the moderators and of the platform itself. One message asserts that censorship is already at work: "threads demanding accountability from managers and politicians are deleted, hidden or buried." The suspicion that the forum is "taken over" is nothing new, but here it is presented as a fait accompli. The paradox is that, according to another message, that same space serves to keep "the nutcases controlled and located at all times."
The political twist: from antiestéticar of prison to electoral victory
As the conversation pogre, the tone changes. Prison stops being a threat and becomes a scenario some wish upon their adversaries. "When Feijóo wins, everyone to jail," someone writes. Politics takes centre stage: a future PP government is mentioned, there is talk of "reds, purples and idiots of any other colour," and the prediction that "wokism will be over in less than a month." The initial antiestéticar turns into hope for revenge.
That shift is not unanimous. Against those celebrating a change of cycle, others predict the opposite: "In 2030 we'll have PSOE and Pedro Sánchez for at least 4 more years." The discussion becomes a contest over who will control the machinery of the State and therefore decide what may be said. Prison is no longer the dreaded destination but the punishment wished upon the rival.
Freedom of expression in the age of digital surveillance
The underlying issue is a question that goes beyond politics: how far does freedom of expression extend online? The most pessimistic messages speak of a future in which "Spain still exists" in five years, or claim that the European Union has become a kind of "EUSSR." The comparison with the USSR appears in several messages, always as a warning. The idea that the State monitors and punishes dissent is taken for granted.
Some try to defuse the tension with humour: "Don't worry, wokism will be over in less than a month and half of the police leadership will be sent to the freezer." The joke serves to dodge the underlying question. But what is truly striking is not a threat but a figure: **21,299 euros a year** per inmate. At that cost, prison is not just a punishment, it is a business. And in the conversation, no one seems willing to give up the irony.
This article is based on messages posted on a current-affairs forum and does not attribute any of the opinions expressed to any specific individual.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (88 replies).
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