“Walls whisper stories”. The Justizvollzugsanstalt für Frauen Berlin stands before us. It is more than just a prison. It represents a complex history of female incarceration in Berlin.
The Justizvollzugsanstalt für Frauen Berlin has several locations. The main facility is in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Other locations include Pankow Reinickendorf and Neukölln. Each serves a different purpose from closed to open detention.
Let’s rewind to the 1860s. Berlin’s district courts began establishing prisons. These prisons were among the first to separate inmates by gender. One notable women’s prison was on Barnimstrasse. It was torn down in the 1970s for housing.
In 1881 a women’s section opened within a men’s prison in Charlottenburg. This led to the creation of the Frauengefängnis Kantstrasse. The Justizvollzugsanstalt Magdalenenstrasse in Lichtenberg housed women prisoners in the 1930s. It connected to the Lichtenberg District Court.
From 1945 to 1955 the Soviet Secret Service used it. Later it became a Stasi remand prison until 1989. Its location opposite the Stasi headquarters was strategic. The direct access to the courthouse no longer exists. The courthouse now handles civil cases only.
From 1949 to 1985 female prisoners were held in the Heeresarrestanstalt in Tiergarten. After a terrorist escape in 1976 a new women’s prison was planned. It would be in Charlottenburg. Construction began in 1979. It opened in March 1985 as Europe’s most modern women’s prison. Today it is part of the Justizvollzugsanstalt Berlin-Plötzensee.
Another women’s prison opened in Lichterfelde in 1976. After German reunification in 1990 Berlin reorganized its female prison system. The goal was to consolidate facilities. The social therapy unit moved to Neukölln in 1996. In 1998 the Alfredstrasse prison in Lichtenberg became the main facility. A branch for open detention opened in Reinickendorf. The Pankow branch began housing short-term inmates.
The Justizvollzugsanstalt für Frauen Berlin now has a capacity for 150 in closed detention. The Lichtenberg facility holds 90. The Pankow branch holds 60. Open detention includes 116 places. Reinickendorf has 95 and Neukölln has 4. The Neukölln social therapy unit has 17 places.
In Pankow the Justizvollzugsanstalt für Frauen Berlin has 60 places. In 2013 it housed 54 women. This location practices group detention. Women share common areas during the day. They are locked in individual cells at night.
The Pankow facility includes stations for short sentences long sentences and pre-trial detention. It even has two places for mothers with children. Some inmates are serving life sentences. Most are there for theft fraud and minor offenses.
Inmates can move freely within their groups. Each station has a common room and kitchen. The prison functions like a small village. Inmates handle chores and cleaning. Some work in the garden or renovate rooms.
The prison offers a library TV and leisure activities. These include yoga music lessons and art courses. A summer festival and Christmas storytelling break the routine. The Justizvollzugsanstalt für Frauen Berlin is more than bricks and bars. It is a place of complex histories and lives.