The Convicted
Name Lists
The nominal list of political prisoners in the Spaç prison-camp, known as “Re-education Unit No. 303 Spaç–Mirditë,” contains approximately 2,123 names and was made available to AIDSSH by the General Directorate of Prisons, Ministry of Justice. According to verifications carried out, the list lacks other names of former political prisoners who served sentences in the Spaç prison-camp.
To fill the identified gaps, AIDSSH has also compiled the Nominal List of Political Prisoners from the Spaç ORV file.This list contains 106 names that are not found in the nominal list of political prisoners in the Spaç prison-camp of the General Directorate of Prisons for the years 1968–1991.
A third list includes other names of former political prisoners who do not appear in either of the two lists above. The names on this list come from former prisoners who did not find themselves on the above lists, from their family members, from testimonies given to AIDSSH, or from testimonies given in the media.
This list will be continuously updated based on new information. If you were a political prisoner in Spaç, or had a relative who was, and do not find the name in these lists, write to: info@autoritetidosjeve.al so that the name can be added to the nominal lists on this page.
Note: The lists are continuously updated depending on new information.
The Condition of Political Prisoners in Spaç
According to an Overview of the general condition of convicts in the Spaç prison-camp, found in the AIDSSH archive and pertaining to the year 1986, the types of accusations and crimes defined at that time by the totalitarian regime can be clearly seen, such as: agitation and propaganda, discussion and attempted escape, espionage, sabotage of the party line, participation in revolt, diversion, etc. All of these were considered crimes against the state, or briefly in documents KKSH.
The overview shows that out of 363 political prisoners serving sentences in Spaç, 120 individuals were sentenced on the charge of “agitation and propaganda,” that is, solely for the expression of their free opinion that did not align with party policy. Prisoners who were sentenced only because they had discussed escape numbered 9 individuals, while 88 were political prisoners sentenced for attempted escape.
The document also contains several other divisions of prisoners according to age, education, origin, and the political stance of the family or place of origin. Although not all pages of the overview are completed, the method of compiling statistics and their categorization speaks volumes about the persecution of all those whom the regime considered or declared “enemies of the people.”
Regulations and Schedule of Activities
The day of political prisoners in the Spaç prison-camp was organized in accordance with the implementation of camp regulations, whose aim was to strengthen the regime of sentence enforcement against prisoners. The internal regulation of the regime for prisoners was drafted by the unit command, sent to the Directorate for the Execution of Penal Decisions and to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Mirditë district for approval. The regulations covered security and re-education of prisoners, the internal regime, as well as the fulfilment of the relevant work norm based on assigned duties.The regulations were divided into two parts; the first consisted of 21 points addressing the Rights and Obligations of prisoners, and the second, behaviour in the residential area and at the work front. The internal regulations targeted not only those convicted of Crimes against the State, but also those convicted of other crimes (photo document).
From a schedule table showing all assigned activities, including: wake-up, meals, work, cleaning, and the hour for reading party press and materials. The photo is taken from a document of the archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs showing only the schedule of one shift, but in Spaç political prisoners worked in 3 shifts.
For prisoners, there were also routine assembly inspections in situations of alert, where time norms of readiness for the assembly and securing of prisoners were defined. The table reflects the assembly of prisoners from the work front to the designated point. Roll call and physical inspection by guards were carried out by zone before political prisoners entered the residential area.
Reference: Fund 10 of the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
Each year, in the Spaç prison-camp, there were approximately 900–1,100 prisoners, 20% of whom were aged 18 to 25 years old; 75% were aged 25 to 60 years oldand 5% were under 18 years old or over 60 years old. The data are reflected in the graph below.
As seen in the graph, the largest percentage, 75%, is occupied by the 25–60 age group, the most capable age for heavy labour.
By Sentence Length:
• Prisoners sentenced up to 5 years of imprisonment constituted about 25%.
• Prisoners sentenced from 5 to 10 years of imprisonment constituted about 38%.
• Prisoners sentenced from 10 to 15 years of imprisonment constituted about 15%.
• Prisoners sentenced to over 15 years of imprisonment constituted about 22%.
The data are reflected in the graph below.
In the Spaç prison, throughout the years, about 55% of prisoners were repeat offenders, and a portion were also re-sentenced there during the serving of their sentence.
A highly variable parameter was the origin of prisoners, as factors were always subjective. A higher number of prisoners relative to population came from border areas.
