By DASHNOR KALOÇI
Memorie.al – Throughout the nearly 45-year period of the communist regime of Enver Hoxha and his successor, Ramiz Alia, in all the prisons and forced labor camps that existed in almost every district of the country, from the South to the North, where thousands of political prisoners served their sentences, the treatment and living conditions—including sleeping quarters, food, and hygienic-sanitary facilities—were on the brink of squalor. But the biggest problem was not only the meager food, which kept most of the convicts serving their sentences there under the constant torture of hunger, but also the very poor quality of the cooking and the hygienic-sanitary conditions, so much so that the convicts often suffered from food poisoning as a result of what they consumed.
Among other things, this fact is also made known by an archival document bearing the secret classification, obtained from the Archive of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which dates from 1978, concerning the food poisoning of 160 convicts serving their sentences in the Borsh camp of Sarandë (known as Re-education Camp No. 305). According to the document in question, this incident was kept hidden by the Sarandë Internal Affairs Branch, under which the Borsh camp fell. For more details on this, we are informed by the document in question, which is published for the first time along with its corresponding facsimile by Memorie.al.
ARCHIVAL DOCUMENT WITH THE OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS, DATED MAY 18, 1978, REGARDING THE INCIDENT THAT OCCURRED IN THE BORSH PRISON
REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA SECRET
MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS Copy No. 1
GENERAL DEPARTMENT Tirana, 18.5.1978
OPERATIVE COMMUNICATION NO. 115
TO THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT OF THE MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS
On the dates 14 and 15 April 1978, in Re-education Unit No. 305, Borsh, Përparim sector, 160 convicts were poisoned by food, in severe, mild, and moderate conditions. Through the measures taken, the situation was stabilized and no convict was admitted to the hospital. The inspection carried out showed that this was caused by the failure to observe hygienic conditions and the fact that the food was distributed with a 12-hour delay.
The incident was not reported at all by the Sarandë Internal Affairs Branch, and the Ministry’s Health Department was notified by the Unit’s assistant doctor. / Memorie.al
CHAIRMAN
PILO SHNATO
