The ‘rehabilitative’ or ‘new’ prison of Thessaloniki

The ‘rehabilitative’ or ‘new’ prison of Thessaloniki was located on Kassandrou Street, at the point where Ano Poli meets the historic centre of the city. They were demolished in the 1980s to make room for the 23d High School and the 32^nd and 26^th Middle School of Thessaloniki. The area is almost adjacent to Mouschoundi Square, neighbouring the old Fruit and Vegetable Market of Thessaloniki, and lies on the western outskirts of Thessaloniki’s historic centre.

The rehabilitative prison was ancillary to the prison of Yedi Kule – Eptapyrgio, since it housed inmates convicted to fewer than three years of incarceration, while the inmates at Eptapyrgio had been convicted of more serious crimes according to the penal code of the time.

Besides the criminal prisoners, political prisoners were also held at the New Prison of Thessaloniki. These were people who had committed political crimes according to the legislation in effect at the time. This article in the newspaper Makedonia describes a dispute between guards and prisoners characterised as ‘communist’ after the latter refused to be transferred to the Yedi Kule – Eptapyrgio prison, since it was widely known that the conditions at Eptapyrgio were particularly harsh.