Perimeter and Security
PERIMETER SCHEME
The territory of the Spaç camp extended over a large area and had a double perimeter with panels and barbed wire up to 4 meters in height. On each post that held the barbed-wire perimeter, a spotlight was installed.
The larger perimeter was the one that encompassed the entire territory of the camp and the mountainside where the four galleries of the Spaç mine were located.
The smaller perimeter was that of the zone where political prisoners lived. Precisely outside this perimeter were the solitary confinement cells, in order to sever contact between those isolated and the rest of the prisoners.
The external perimeter was secured by a weave of barbed wire placed vertically and horizontally, which was interrupted by 30 watchtowers where soldiers stood.
Data on the perimeter of the Spaç prison-camp are presented in the ORV File, No. 123, of the year 1979, in which the perimeter scheme is documented.
In addition to the perimeters of the prison-camp, volunteer groups were also organized with residents of the areas around Spaç, with the aim of capturing those who managed to cross all the perimeters. In this way, escape from Spaç became almost an impossible mission for the prisoners.
SECURITY IN CASE OF ESCAPE
In order to avoid any escape situation from the camp, in addition to equipping the external perimeter and the internal perimeter with guard posts with soldiers, command guards, and responsible guards, this process was served by the drafting of security maps, with the schemes of guarding and protecting the camp from strategic points. In the files of the AIDSSH archive, the security schemes in Spaç, drafted to avoid cases of escape, are illustrated in 14 documents.
Despite the high security, the efforts of political prisoners in Spaç to escape from the hell of the prison-camp did not cease. There are numerous cases of escape throughout the entire history of the prison-camp. Some of the former prisoners managed to break through the perimeters, but were later captured; some were executed by the Spaç guards, and others were captured and re-sentenced. In cases of the capture of prisoners or their elimination, the command also proposed decorations for the guard soldiers.
References:
AIDSSH, Fund 1 H-Gj, File No. 11893
AIDSSH, F. Branch of Internal Affairs Mirditë, D. ORV, No. 123, “Unit 303 Spaç”
