Carabanchel Prison was constructed by political prisoner

Political prisoner

According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....

s after the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 between 1940 and 1944 in the Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

's neighbourhood of Carabanchel

Carabanchel

Carabanchel is a district in the south western suburbs of Madrid, Spain.-Overview:The area was the scene of fierce fighting during the Spanish Civil War -especially in November 1936, during the Battle of Madrid, when Nationalist troops tried to fight their way into the area. Unacustomed to street...

. It was one of the biggest prisons in Europe until its closure in 1998. The structure followed the panopticon

Panopticon

The Panopticon is a type of building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the late eighteenth century. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe all inmates of an institution without them being able to tell whether or not they are being watched...

 model devised by Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...

 in 1785.

History

During General Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco

Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...

's regime (1936–1975) the prison hosted a large community of political prisoners, which included relevant members of democratic and leftist political parties and union leaders. Notable inmates included Marcelino Camacho

Marcelino Camacho

Marcelino Camacho Abad , was a Spanish trade unionist and politician. He was a founding member of Comisiones Obreras and its first Secretary-General, holding this position between 1976 and 1987, and a communist deputy for Madrid Province between 1977 and 1981.Born the son of a unionized signalman...

 (leader of the Communist clandestine union Comisiones Obreras) 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 (leader of Workers' General Union), Eduardo Saborido, Simón Sánchez Montero (Communist leader, who server 25 years in prison), José María Ruiz Gallardón (monarchist opponent to the dictatorship and father of the current Mayor of Madrid

Mayor of Madrid

The Mayor of Madrid is an elected politician who, along with Madrid City Council, is accountable for the strategic government of Madrid....

 Alberto Ruiz Gallardón), Nicolás Sartorius, Ramón Tamames, Enrique Múgica and Enrique Curiel (Communist activists), Miguel Boyer (Socialist

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party

The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party is a social-democratic political party in Spain. Its political position is Centre-left. The PSOE is the former ruling party of Spain, until beaten in the elections of November 2011 and the second oldest, exceeded only by the Partido Carlista, founded in...

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

Miguel Gila

Miguel Gila was a Spanish comedian actor. He appeared in 27 films and television shows between 1954 and 1993. He starred in the film ¡Viva lo imposible!, which was entered into the 8th Berlin International Film Festival. He spent some time incarcerated in the Carabanchel Prison because of having...

, Fernando Savater

Fernando Savater

Fernando Fernández-Savater Martín is one of Spain's most popular living philosophers, as well as an essayist and celebrated author....

, Fernando Arrabal

Fernando Arrabal

Fernando Arrabal Terán is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist and poet. He settled in France in 1955, he describes himself as “desterrado,” or “half-expatriate, half-exiled.”...

, CNT

Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

The Confederación Nacional del Trabajo is a Spanish confederation of anarcho-syndicalist labor unions affiliated with the International Workers Association . When working with the latter group it is also known as CNT-AIT...

 member Luís Andrés Edo

Luís Andrés Edo

Luís Andrés Edo was a militant and historian of Spain's anarchosyndicalist movement the CNT.-Early life:...

 and would-be Franco assassins Stuart Christie

Stuart Christie

Stuart Christie is a Scottish anarchist writer and publisher. Christie is best known for being arrested as an 18-year old while carrying explosives to assassinate the Spanish dictator General Franco. He was later alleged to be a member of the Angry Brigade, but was acquitted of related charges...

 and Fernando Carballo Blanco. After Franco's death, only common criminals and terrorists belonging to the Basque terrorist group ETA

ETA

ETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...

 and other paramilitary groups remained.

After its abandonment, the building was heavily looted and was inhabited by marginal communities. 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

Aluche is a barrio of the city of Madrid, situated in the southwest of the city, in the Latina district. It is bounded by the barrios of Campamento, Las Águilas, Lucero, Los Cármenes, and the Carabanchel district. Casa de Campo is also nearby...

, who wanted a hospital and other public facilities to be built in the area, and the local authorities, who want to privatize the land for housing development. The neighbours also wanted part of the prison to be preserved as a memorial to the struggle for democracy in Spain.

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.