Places of Incarceration during the War

Following the triumph of the coup, the rebel authorities used a range of spaces in Galicia as places of confinement. As the number of prisoners only kept rising, they had to make use of buildings such as old barracks, monasteries, castles, bullrings, etc, to accommodate them. They also began to create a network of concentration camps which housed many of the prisoners taken at the front.

Life in these prisons was not easy. The photograph shows that condition of the municipal jail of Santiago de Compostela, known as the Falcona, which had been awaiting reform throughout the Republic. It serves as an example of a space that lacked the necessary conditions to house the huge numbers of prisoners that were sent there. Buildings that were turned into impromptu prisons underwent minimal reforms, sometimes carried out by prison labour. As for the concentration camps, the conditions of hygiene and habitability, were often subhuman. Prison staff were a mixed bag. The rebels appointed some new directors while keeping on many of the workers. There were also military officers and reassigned soldiers.

The situation of the prisoners was also varied. Some were taken for a “ride”. Many were awaiting summary trial before a military tribunal or for a charge to be resolved. Others spent a long time waiting for their case to be started. Those who had been convicted by a military court faced long sentences. Some concentration camp inmates were quickly sent elsewhere while others remained a long time.          

There were separate women’s prisons, although many also spent time in men’s facilities. Isabel Ríos, who was imprisoned in Santiago, was one. In her memoirs, she recalls that, so long as there was room, the women were put in the same cells as the men who had been condemned to death.

Some prisoners worked inside the prisons, at times as support for the staff, if needed. Others worked at their own trades, which gave them the opportunity to participate in the program of reducing their sentence in exchange for work. Some camps used forced labour, but only at extremely hard and physical demanding tasks, which further worsened the prisoners’ conditions.

RGF