The Militant Prison. Ventas (Madrid) and Les Corts (Barcelona)

Abstract

This work attempts to assess the history of two of the most important prisons of the Franco’s dictactorship, Ventas and Les Corts, corresponding to the most populated Spanish cities, Madrid and Barcelona. We start from the background of the female imprisonment in Spain, branded by an special stamp with the keynote of influence of religious agents, at least until the Republican reforms of 1931. At the same time, we stress the impact of the «civilizatory breach» as a result of the civil war and immediate postwar, in terms of massive imprisonment and spreading of death sentences even among women. Finally, this essay deals with the making up of an specific prisoner culture, closely politicized and distinguished from the male one, the memory of which would be transmitted over the following decades by means of the stories of the political female prisoners.

Keywords

• régimen de Franco
• encarcelamiento femenino
• culturas carcelarias
• Guerra Civil y posguerra