![]() | |
Location | Burrel, ![]() |
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Coordinates | 41°36′24″N20°0′46″E / 41.60667°N 20.01278°E |
Status | Active |
Security class | High Security |
Capacity | 190 |
Population | 148(as of April 2013) |
Opened | 1938, 1997 reopened |
Closed | 1992 - 1997 |
Managed by | Ministry of Justice, Albania |
Director | Demir Cupi |
Burrel Prison (Albanian : Burgu i Burrelit) is a high security prison located outside the town of Burrel, in northeastern Albania at the District Police Station in Mat with a maximum capacity of 198 inmates. In 2011 the prison housed 182 inmates and employed 120 corrections officers. The one-story structure is divided into three areas covering 21,000 square meters. [1]
Burrel Prison closed in 1992 after the Democratic Party of Albania deposed the Party of Labour of Albania. The prison was reopened in 1997 and is one of Albania's 21 prisons active today, one of five that houses prisoners sentenced for life, and one of only two that houses prisoners convicted for organized crime. [2] [3] There has been a movement by some activists to close the prison and make it the site of a memorial to those tortured and killed there between 1944 and 1992. [4]
In May 2013, the Director of Burrel Prison, Demir Çupi, was suspended after an incident involving a prisoner, Zeneli, who was granted a 5-day leave to visit his wife in Kukes but did not return to the prison. This was the third such incident in 2013. [5]
Plans for the prison were begun in 1937, during the reign of King Zog. The government of Kostaq Kotta decided to build a prison for 2000 inmates, [6] but the project was not finished until 1939 due to problems with funding its completion. [7]
The prison is well known for having housed political prisoners before and during the regime of Enver Hoxha, many of whom were imprisoned without due process, tortured, and forced to endure inhuman conditions. [8] Albania may have had more than 100 prisons during this time, [9] but Burrel Prison is one of the most notorious sites along with Burgu i Qafë Barit and Burgu i Spaçit. Political prisoners eventually included many people and the families of people who held prominent positions within the Socialist People's Republic of Albania party apparatus, who were subsequently accused of opposition crimes by the regime, as well as people imprisoned for practicing religion, which was illegal, and others thought to be associated with an opposition movement in any form. Those charged with opposition crimes were convicted for terms of at least 20 years, but many prisoners had their sentences "extended" while in the prison, including Pjetër Arbnori who was known as "the Mandela of the Balkans" because of the length of his more than 28-year internment in Burrel Prison.
Davis Guggenheim's 2014 draft of the screenplay of Bad Boys for Life opens at Burrel Prison. [12]
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Mehmet Ismail Shehu was an Albanian communist politician who served as the Prime Minister of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania from 1954 to 1981. He was known as a close confidant of Enver Hoxha and served in various high-ranking positions in the government.
Burrel is a town in northern Albania, 91 km from Tirana. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Mat. It was the seat of the former District of Mat. The population as of the 2023 census is 7,928.
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The People's Socialist Republic of Albania, officially as the People's Republic of Albania from 1946 until 1976, and as the Republic of Albania from 1991 to 1992, was the communist state in Albania from 1946 to 1991. It succeeded the Democratic Government of Albania (1944–1946).
Pjetër Filip Arbnori was an Albanian politician and dissident of the communist regime in Albania. He was dubbed "the Mandela of the Balkans" by Albanian statesmen because of the length of his 28-year internment. He was born in Durrës, on the Adriatic coast. President Topi bestowed the Nation's Honor Order upon Pjetër Arbnori.
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The Spaç Prison was a political prison in Communist Albania at the village of Spaç. The former prison is listed as a second-category national monument. There were plans to turn the rapidly deteriorating site into a museum, but as of February 2013, no progress had been made at the location. In 1973, a number of prisoners staged a rebellion where the non-communist flag was raised. In 1984, a similar rebellion took place at the prison of Qafë Bar.
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Dom Simon Jubani was a Catholic priest and Albanian political prisoner confined in Burrel Prison for 26 years during the regime of Enver Hoxha.
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Ramadan Çitaku (1914-1990) was an Albanian politician of the Party of Labour of Albania. A native of Kosovo, he was one of the founding members of the Albanian Communist Party, member of the General Council of the National Liberation Movement during World War II, Minister of Finance of Albania, and diplomat.
Pirro Kondi was an Albanian politician of the Party of Labour of Albania (PPSh). Coming from a family with strong communist background, he became member of the Albanian Parliament and a candidate-member of the Politburo of the Party of Labour of Albania by the '80.
Alfons Tracki was an Albanian Catholic priest of German origin, who died as a martyr as a result of the religious persecution by the regime of Enver Hoxha in communist Albania.
The General Directorate of Prisons (DPB) (Albanian: Drejtoria e Përgjithshme e Burgjeve) is an institution in Albania under the umbrella of the Ministry of Justice. The main task of the directorate is the management of criminal institutions, as well as the creation of appropriate conditions for rigorous enforcement of all obligations arising from the existing legal framework, transforming the criminal sentences into re-education options.