Studia Historica: Historia Contemporánea (Feb 2012)
Between punishment and redemption. Women in prison in the Balearic Islands (1936-1943)
Abstract
This essay analyze the specific characteristics and living conditions in the women prison in Mallorca —1936-1943— in the context of the repression carried out by the Francoist regime against women who supported and sympathized with the Republican government. The first part deals with the period of the Civil War during which, due to the unprecedented avalanche of women’s detentions produced by the rebels, it was necessary to improvise a center for females who remanded in custody. Later on, the changes brought about in 1940 by the transformation of the modest prison located in Palma into one of the central prisons for women in Spain are analyzed. The third section revolves around the singular presence in this prison of the «Sisters of Charity» Catholic religious order and its influence on the daily life. Likewise, the strategies of resistance developed by the prisoners to improve their living conditions, protect themselves from the disciplinary measures adopted by the penal authorities and help spread their political ideas are explained. Finally, the essay also mentions the causes and consequences of the closure of this Majorcan prison and the process of recuperation of the memory of the former prisoners that has taken place over the last decade.
