In Spaç, prisoners died from mine accidents, diseases or executions by guard soldiers in escape attempts. Their bodies were not returned to their families, instead they were buried by camp command in a place that was kept secret during the years of dictatorship and after the regime’s fall this burial site was found out to have been in Shpal, Mirdita. No name was put on the prisoners’ graves, only a number. Family members have found a part of their relatives’ graves in Spaç Camp according to the prisoner’s data, which were placed in a small glass bottle in the grave, near the victim’s head.

The shift was considered complete only after opening the holes for the next shift. Afterwards, the three-prisoner group left the tunnel and prepared to return to the camp.  The first shift started at 7:00 am and ended at 3:00 pm. The second shift started at 3:00 and ended at 11:00. The third shift started at 11:00 and ended at 7:00 in the morning. This cycle was repeated every day. The brigades changed shifts once a week.

The private kitchen was used by prisoners to cook the few foods they received from their families with which they somehow enriched their poor diet. The pots or pans were also private, brought by the family. These utensils, too, were held in the food depot.

This is a view of the prisoners’ cafeteria in the ‘70s.After performing their morning routine in the toilet, prisoners who started first shift would hurry to the cafeteria to have breakfast and go to work.   At 6:00 am, all prisoners who’d work first shift had to have finished their breakfast and be ready to go to the tunnels.For the first shift that worked in the mines, breakfast was soup with seasonal vegetables and sometimes a little meat.But this menu did not apply to those working above ground or in supporting sectors, as they had a poorer diet and they never had meat.

In Spaç’s tunnels, tragedies caused by accidents were frequent.    The main cause of accidents were technical conditions out of any standard as tunnels were secured with primitive methods.   Often, prison command, to meet the high targets of mineral extraction, forced prisoners to go and work in dangerous fronts, declared as such by engineers, too.   After the accidents, the wounded were mainly medicated in the premises of the camp infirmary.  Those who died were buried by prison command in a secred terrain.