It has been just over two weeks since I and seven other members of the Catalan government were sent to Estremera prison, outside Madrid, to await trial on charges of rebellion. I still haven’t been able to meet the ministers held in other cell blocks. Communication with the outside world is very limited: we can only talk for 50 minutes each week on the phone and I have not seen my children. I dedicate my time to reflection and thankfully, as a Catholic, to prayer. I have time to think about the past but also about the future.

The Spanish government has usurped the government of Catalonia. They say Catalonia now has another government, but nobody voted for it. Both the ruling People’s Party and