Carabanchel Prison was constructed by

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...

s after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

between 1940 and 1944 in the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

neighbourhood of Carabanchel. It was one of the biggest

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

in Europe until its closure in 1998. The structure followed the panopticon model devised by

Jeremy Bentham Jeremy Bentham (; 15 February 1748 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._4_February_1747.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 4 February 1747">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.htm ...

in 1785.

History

During ''

caudillo A ''caudillo'' ( , ; osp, cabdillo, from Latin , diminutive of ''caput'' "head") is a type of personalist leader wielding military and political power. There is no precise definition of ''caudillo'', which is often used interchangeably with " ...

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War ...

Spanish State Francoist Spain ( es, España franquista), or the Francoist dictatorship (), was the period of Spanish history between 1939 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death in 1975, Spani ...

(1936–1975) the prison hosted a large community of political prisoners, which included members of socialist, anarchist, communist and marxist political parties and union leaders. Notable inmates included

Marcelino Camacho Marcelino Camacho Abad (January 21, 1918 – October 29, 2010) was a Spanish trade unionist and politician. He was a founding member of Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and its first Secretary-General, holding this position between 1976 and 1987, and a c ...

(leader of the Communist clandestine union

Comisiones Obreras The Workers' Commissions ( es, Comisiones Obreras, CCOO) since the 1970s has become the largest trade union in Spain. It has more than one million members, and is the most successful union in labor elections, competing with the Unión General de ...

) and the rest of top-rank members of it imprisoned as a result of the Process 1001, Julián Ariza (member also of the same union),

Nicolás Redondo Nicolás Redondo Urbieta (16 June 1927 – 3 January 2023) was a Spanish trade unionist and politician. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, he served as secretary-general of the Unión General de Trabajadores The Unión Genera ...

(leader of Workers' General Union), Eduardo Saborido, Simón Sánchez Montero (

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leader, who served 25 years in prison),

José María Ruiz Gallardón José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

(monarchist opponent to the Francoist State and father of the former

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

Alberto Ruiz Gallardón Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

Nicolás Sartorius Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to: People Given name * Nicolas (given name) Mononym * Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer * Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer Surname Nicolas * Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...

Ramón Tamames Ramón Tamames Gómez (born 1 November 1933) is a Spanish economist and former politician. He was a member of the Congress of Deputies and the City Council of Madrid in the early years after the Spanish transition to democracy. A long-term member ...

Enrique Múgica Enrique Múgica Herzog (20 February 1932 – 11 April 2020) was a Spanish lawyer and politician. An opponent of Francoist Spain, he spent three years in prison. He was one of the leaders of the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE), in Franco's time. ...

and

Enrique Curiel Enrique Curiel (15 April 1947 - 2 March 2011) was a Spanish politician and member of the Communist Party of Spain and the United Left, who was a Member of the Senate of Spain. Early life and education Curiel was born in Vigo to Luis Curie ...

(Communist activists),

Miguel Boyer Miguel Boyer (5 February 1939 – 29 September 2014) was a Spanish economist and politician, who served as minister of economy, treasury and commerce from 1982 to 1985. Early life and education Boyer was born in St. Jean de Luz, France, on 5 F ...

(

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

activist and a minister later), Fernando Sánchez-Dragó, Miguel Gila,

Fernando Savater Fernando Fernández-Savater Martín (born 21 June 1947 at Basque city of San Sebastián) is a Spanish philosopher, essayist and author. Early years and career Born in San Sebastián, he was an Ethics professor at the University of the Basque ...

Fernando Arrabal Fernando Arrabal Terán (born August 11, 1932) is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterrado" ...

, CNT member Luís Andrés Edo and would-be Franco assassins

Stuart Christie Stuart Christie (10 July 1946 – 15 August 2020) was a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. When aged 18, Christie was arrested while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish caudillo, General Francisco Franco. He was later alleged ...

and Fernando Carballo Blanco. Colombian Cocaine Kingpins

Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez (born 30 September 1950) is a Colombian former drug trafficker who was one of the founding members of the notorious Medellín Cartel in the late 1970s. The cartel's key members were Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, José ...

and

Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela Gilberto José Rodríguez Orejuela (30 January 1939 – 31 May 2022) was a Colombian drug lord, who was one of the leaders of the Cali Cartel, based in the city of Cali. Cali Cartel Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, along with his brother Miguel ...

where also imprisoned in Carabanchel in the mid 1980's. After Franco's death, only common criminals and members of the Basque separatist group

ETA Eta (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἦτα ''ē̂ta'' or ell, ήτα ''ita'' ) is the seventh letter of the Greek alphabet, representing the close front unrounded vowel . Originally denoting the voiceless glottal fricative in most dialects, ...

and other paramilitary groups remained. After its abandonment, the building was heavily looted and was inhabited by non-Spaniards. Most of the prison walls were covered with graffiti, some of them very elaborate. A lengthy debate took place between the neighbours from Carabanchel and

Aluche Aluche is a barrio of the city of Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-la ...

, who wanted a hospital and other public facilities to be built in the area,The neighbours' project for the prison lot
and the local authorities, who want to privatize the land for housing development. The neighbours also wanted part of the prison to be preserved. Finally in July 2008, local and national government reached an agreement on the future of the prison lot, projecting to build 650 apartments, a hospital, green zones and government buildings on the former prison grounds. Despite protests the entire Carabanchel complex was demolished in late 2008.

Notes

Urban-travel.org @ The Carabanchel Prison, inside shots.

References

*Chance, C. (2005) ''Carabanchel: The Last Brit in Europe's Hellhole Prison''. Mainstream. *Díaz Cardiel, V. (2007) "Algunos recuerdos de mis cuatro estancias en la cárcel de Carabanchel" ''El Rapto de Europa'' 11: 13-19. *Photos from the priso

*Photos from Carabanchel at flickr.co

*Urban-travel.org @ The Carabanchel Prison, photos from insid

External links

{{Authority control Defunct prisons in Spain Buildings and structures in Carabanchel District, Madrid History of Madrid