In area no. 2 of Spaç, pyrite extraction was performed, whereas in area no. 1 and no. 3, there was copper extraction.  In all areas, each group’s (made of one miner and two carters) daily target was the extraction of seven wagons of mineral, cleaning the front from inert material, reinforcing the whole area where they had worked, whereas the opening of holes was then done by a free miner, i.e., not imprisoned, as the process included the use of explosive devices which were never entrusted on a prisoner for security reasons.  This free miner would fill the holes with explosives to be detonated for the following shift. The first shift ended after all this work processes had been closed by the three-prisoner group.

At Spaç Camp there was a store, a 4x4m building near the smith’s. Prisoners, referring to the seller’s name, called it Ndue’s store. The store was state-owned and the seller was a free man who came to the camp every day. In ShkëlqimAbazi’s testimony, it is indicated that “…in Spaç’s Revolt, political prisoners undertook not to touch the store, even if people would be starving. They guarded it to make sure nobody attacked it. So, it wasn’t touched.”

The store often sold food products like sugar, flour, rice, oil. There were also some stationeries, like pencils, pens, notebooks, envelopes, etc.

But how did prisoners buy when physical money was prohibited in camp? ShkëlqimAbazi explains in his testimony: “We had no money in the physical sense. We had imaginary money if we can call it that. Our money existed in the accountant’s office, who marked the money prisoners earned by work or those their families brought. Until 1972, the law in force dictated that no matter how much you worked, the most you can earn is 18 leks. The accountant noted the income collected for each prisoner. Before going to the store you placed the order at the accountant: e.g., he would order 1 kg of sugar, oil, pasta, for which he would get a coupon. He’d open the records and check: Shkëlqim has, let’s say, 1,000 leks. Deduct 500 leks, and 500 leks remain. If the balance didn’t match, you didn’t get a coupon. This was the money we used: the coupon.”

As a form of torture, especially in the cold winter days when temperatures hit subzero temperatures, police officers poured water in the isolation cells. As such, prisoners punished in the cells had to go through not only the cold, but also exhaustion and insomnia, as they could not sit or sleep.

Meeting the rates was often impossible. Few prisoners could physically handle that titanic load at work.  In many cases during the cave-ins in the tunnel, there was not enough mineral to fill seven wagons. But prison command never accepted any justification for not meeting the rate. The most common expression of officers in Spaç was “Either your plan (target) or your soul”, which implied that death awaited all those who didn’t give the regime whatever was required at all costs.

The first site where roll call was done in the first years of the camp’s operation was the open area near the smith’s. Beyond traditional schedules of roll calls, mainly when returning from the mine, as well as when departing to work, roll call was done through an alarm notifying all prisoners to gather in the designated area. That was where prisoners were often held for hours (two to three hours), under the sun, rain or even icy frosts during winter. Prisoners had to stand straight as this process went on.