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Burrel Prison

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Emri Burrel Prison
Vendndodhja: Burrel, Mat
Viti i Ndërtimit: 1946
Viti i Mbylljes: 1991
Burimi i Informacionit: Kastriot Dervishi

Initially Prison No. 3 and after 1957, Unit 321.
It operated as a political prison of the communist regime from 1946 until April 1991. Along with
Unit No. 313, this remained the prison where convicts were isolated entirely, as they did not go
to work like in other units. It began to be built around the end of 1938 – beginning of 1939, but
remained unused due to the Italian occupation. For the first time, it would be used by the war
administration. From July 1944 to 1946, it was used as a collection depot for the needs of the
new communist government. In 1946, after several internal repairs and its barbed wire fencing,
Burrel Prison was reopened and used for political prisoners who were considered the most
dangerous opponents by the new communist regime. It started operating as a prison in 1946 to
become one of the cruellest: as soon as convicts stepped in, they faced the motto ‘It is called
Burrel, you enter here and never return.’ Hundreds of prisoners lost their lives in the prison’s
premises and their remains have not been recovered to this day.

The country’s elite was imprisoned there. Conditions were terribly difficult. Former Prime
Minister Koço Kotta, former ministers Gjergj Kokoshi and Xhevat Korça, playwright Et’hem
Haxhiademi, generals Abaz Fejzo, Gjin Marku and Vaskë Gjini, Italian citizen, former director
of the Bank of Gjirokastra, Giuseppe Terrusi, etc. all died in the Burrel Prison. Among Burrel
prisoners, in addition to prime ministers and ministers, there were senior clerics such as Visarion
Xhuvani and Hafiz Ali Kraja; translators of Hellenic and Latin classics such as Mark Ndoja and
Gjon Shllaku, and dozens of intellectuals, military officers and artists, who had been at the peak
of their careers or still children when the prison opened, such as Pjetër Arbnori, Fatos Lubonja,
Spartak Ngjela, and Sherif Merdani.

According to the former convict Petrit Velaj, he had arrived in this prison on 14 September 1946,
together with other convicts brought from the Vlora Prison. There were about 16 men in a cell.
According to him, during 1947–1948, 720 prisoners were buried in this prison. Archival records
indicate that in the autumn of 1946, the prison was staffed by 17 people (14 soldiers, one non-
commissioned officer and one officer). In 1950, the jail had 150 convicts out of 228, which was
the capacity of the building.

The prison’s capacity figures were constantly changing, but they were almost always lower than
the number of prisoners, as it was generally the case in other prisons and camps. The prison had
a rectangular shape with a width of six metres and a length of 100 metres. The edges of the
inside premises had the canteen halls and cells, separated by a corridor at the centre. There was a
cherry tree at the yard, and below it, hundreds of prisoners’ bones. The prison was surrounded by
a four-metre high concrete wall with barbed wire over it. And yet, some boys managed to break
through this impassable border. Sazan Hadëri, Dhori Gërnjoti and Adem Allçi escaped from
there on 2 August 1967. For this courage, Sazan paid the price with his life, while Dhori and
Adem with a new sentence of 25 years in prison.

According to the documents of this period, tuberculosis and scurvy were the predominant
diseases among the convicts. During the ’60s and ’70s, an average of 170 people served
sentences in the Burrel Prison, while in 1983, there were 133–150 convicts. In September 1990,
187 political prisoners were reported in this prison; in October of the same year, 215 prisoners;
in November roughly 212 prisoners, and in December 198 prisoners. 186 prisoners were serving
their sentences in this prison in January 1991; in February 1991, there were 68 convicts, and only
16 convicts in April of that year. The last political prisoners of the communist regime were
released from this high-security prison in April.

Prisoners: