DATA ON PRISONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R016200270005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 24, 2003
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: January 30, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

*OHM NU. ci 4AA
Fes 1952
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
DATE OF
INFO.
25X1
PLACE
nr,r11111:3PrI
Approved For Release 2003/08/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R0164200270005-2
MELLOW 23
?
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
CLASSIFCATION SECRET/
Hung ry
Data on PTison,;,
INFORMATION REPORT REPORT NO.
CD NO.
25X1
25X1
DATE DISTR. 30 January 1953
NO. OF PAGES 3
. OF ENCLS.
STED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
25X1
25X1
25X1
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THE MEANING OF TITLE 18, SECTIONS 793
AND 794, OF THE U.S. CODE, AS AMENDED. ITS TRANSMISSION OR REVE-
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT BY AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS
PROHIBITED BY LAW. THE REPRODUCTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
1. The general supervisor of all.prisons, forced ltbor camps and prisoner affairs?'
in Hungary is Hungarian Secret Police (AVB) Colonel Princz (Thu). He often in-
spects the jails and forced laOor eamps,:where prisoners perform the heaviest
physical work undeo: inhumuzleonditions, insufficient nourishment and ridiculous-
ly low salarieF-, All prisoners, except the dangerous political criminals", who
are held in AR jails hermetically sealed from the outside world, must do forced
labor under the supervisiofl of the AVE,
2. The nationalized industrial undertakings, when asking for cheap forced laborers,
.PPly. to Colonel Princz, who does quite a private business by sending prisoners
for such work; Priacz is linown to nave amassed-a fortune.
To_ render eventual so pes more difficult the prisoners are frequently .moved from
one prison to another. These moves occur during the night; they are chained to
one another and transported in groups in cattle cars. The stations are sealed
off by a strong police.dordon? and. the public never seep any of these moves._ At
their destination, the prisoners are driven to the working place by day, and the
public. generally loots upon them with compassion. In the country, forced laborers
. lent out from prisons, re given living quarters?on:the premises of their work.
4. On the other band prisoners held in gn jails are never sent to work. They are
buried forever, acaording to all information. At present, prisoners convicted
. for "serioue political crimes" (the staunch - anti-Communists) are being kept at
Budapest in the so-called "Collecting Prison" (dAjt8-Foghttp),- near the iillarlya
. ,
- Cemetern at Ibte ia the 1011,prison; at the Sopronk8bida PriSon, which since the
summer of 1952 also belongs to the gVHvin the noteriously cruel extermination
camp at Recsk;.and at EadaDeat in the AH jail in the CsokonayUtca (street).
CLASSIFICATION SECRET
25X1
STATEEV X NAVY
ARMY
NSRB
..EBL
Poved For Keiease 2003
D I SIR I BUT I ON
/08/12 : GIA -DP82-00457R016200270005-2
50
Approved For Release 2003/08/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R016200270005-2
SECRET
-2-
ane.
25X1
As the.i.Hungarian; Secret' Pelice' , expanded the-prisons bees ?,. smalle,
for thenever-increasing number st prisoners _aud even the barracks for the4hifermed
guards are overcrowded. . Recently the Municipal Hoapital on Rdbert Kdrely tit in
Budapest has beg-nreqpisitioned for the female personnel of AVH. Ii this new
barraeks almost every AVH woman has the rank of a staff sergeant, these weapon-carrying
women begin their training with a six weeke special course, and after its successna,
termination they become staff sergeants. In the case of especially "meritorious"
'behavior:, they even become second lieutenants. The AVH women billeted in this barracks,
always wear uniforms; the others, employed in the secret counter espionage, wear
civilian (plain) clothes. They serve in the railroad stations, streetcars, buses,
theatres, restaurants, and parks, where they Observe the public and act as agents
provocateurs.
6. Data on some other prisons:
a. In Budapest, on AMor Utca (a small side street off Fehdrvdri lit), a new plant has
been under construction sin ee 1950. This complex is,popularlycalled the "Red
House". Because of the great overcrowding of the prisons, this half-finished plant
was taken over by the AVH and part of it was turned. into a jail, while the other
Tart is being completed .as a factory. In this jail 1,200 prisoners arecrowded,
most of them for having attempted to cross the frontiers without permission. The
minimum punishment for it is five years imprisonment, but many get up to ten years
from the "peoplers courts" after a sham bearing.
b. In the "Star Prison" (Csillag BOrtUn), Szeged, there are at present about 1,300
prisoners; half of them are political prisoners, the other half ordinary convicts.
This prison is notorious for prevailing had, conditions and terrific overcrowding.
c. The aszberdny jail IS a small prison, originally built for 60 persons; today
400 persons are held there. Sixteen persons are crowded into a cell of 12 square
meters. One of Hungary-Ts cruelest jailers, Alexander Demenyitserves here and beats
up the prisoners for the slightest slips. Among the prisoners there are 200 Yugo-
slays, mostly Cominform foes of Tito, who fled to Hungary, bet owing to distrust
reigning even arse/1g Cominform allies, they are being held in jail indefinitely.
There are also many Hungarians here, former prisoners of war returned from the
USSR, who were imprudent enough to tell their friends what they had seen in Ruasia.
Another torturer in this Prison is Sergeant Varga (mu); he also specializes in
stealing the parcels sent to the-priSoners by their relatives. A former employee
of the Netherlands Legation, and, Several Austrian citizens are kept in this prison
as "spies". The daily food ration of the prisonersis 400 grams ofbread and
twice a day a,weak soup.
d. In the former palace of Archduke Joseph, in Budapest, in the small part of the palace
which remained relatively intact after the bombings during the siege 600 prisoners
are being held. They work, together with 600 civilian laborers, on the demolition
and reconstruction of the former immense Royal Palace, which was damaged during
the war. Its foundations date from the 12th century and are especially thick
and strong, ao work here is extremely heavy.
e, The MArianosztra Prison used. to be a prison for female convicts only; today there
are male prisoners also. The number of prisoners amounts to 1:300 persons. Many
SECRET,
- - -
Approved For Release 2003/08/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R016200270005-2
25X1'
Approved For Release 2003/08/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R016200270005-2
^
SECRETi
-3-
25X1
former high-ranking xirmy officers, generals, colonels' sentenced. by 4e Communists
for- life, have been kept, here since 1945; they are heir/ in strictest isolation.
Five to seven prisoners are kept in a cell built for two.
f. Many prisoners are working as forced ,laborers La the coal mines at Vdrpa.lota. Some
are former riiners?seTrtenced for sabotage to 8 to le years of forced _labor for having
taken pact, in December 1951, demonstrations gainst the inhuman- treatment" and
low salari.es in_the Tatabinya coal mines.
Approved For Release 2003/08/12 : CIA-RDP82-00457R016200270005-2