Dej Prison is a prison located in

Dej Dej (; hu, Dés; german: Desch, Burglos; yi, דעעש ''Desh'') is a municipality in Transylvania, Romania, north of Cluj-Napoca, in Cluj County. It lies where the river Someșul Mic meets the river Someșul Mare. The city administers four vill ...

, Romania. Located in the northern part of the town, the prison was part of the Dej Courthouse, completed in 1894. It had 66 cells for common criminals. During the early communist regime, the prison housed common criminals. There were seventeen escapes in 1948–1950. The maximum number of inmates was 500 in 1954; political prisoners began to appear around that time, until 1963. Both men and women, some were merely in transit, while others served time for high treason or espionage on behalf of Western powers. In the 1950s, against a backdrop of bureaucratic chaos, the prisoners suffered from lack of beds, blankets, medical attention, hygiene, and food, although the situation was slightly improved in the early 1960s.Muraru, pp. 283–88 Most of the political prisoners had been sentenced during show trials. Around 1960, three figures associated with the Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu case were incarcerated at Dej and subjected to harsh treatment: Belu Zilber, Herant Torosian, and

Harry Brauner Harry Brauner (24 February 1908 – 11 March 1988) was an ethnomusicologist, composer, and professor of music from Romania. Life Brauner was born in Piatra Neamț into a Jewish family with many children, including his elder brother, Victor, w ...

. Others included (who died there in 1961), Vasile Leu,

Nicolae Mărgineanu Nicolae Mărgineanu (born 25 September 1938) is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. He has directed 15 films since 1978. His 1983 film '' Return from Hell'' was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Spe ...

, Ștefan I. Nenițescu, , and Alexandru Todea. Additionally, members of the Italian legation tried and sentenced in 1951 were sent to Dej, as was , former marshal of the royal palace.

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* {{coord missing, Romania Prisons in Romania Buildings and structures in Cluj County Dej