Molàro prison

Calçèr Molàro

Location	Montecara
Status	Operating
Security class	Mixed-security
Capacity	1,050
Population	954 (as of 1 January 2019)
Opened	1898
Managed by	Secretariat of Defense and Security
Governor	Damàs Bertòn
Street address	Vìa Galèri 20
Website	difseg.go.mc/molaro

Molàro prison (Montecaran: Calçèr Molàro) is the main penal institution in the city-state of Montecara.

History

Molàro prison was constructed under the Gaullican administration between 1895 and 1898. It is located on the former site of an open-air market in central Montecara and was built over the course of three years, mainly using convict labor. Prisoners quarried the stones themselves and constructed a building that was originally planned to hold approximately 500 prisoners in single-occupant cells.

A new prison was necessary because of rapid population growth in the mid-to-late 19th century, mostly driven by the immigration of rural populations in nearby southeastern Euclea and northwestern Coius as industrialization took hold. The ranks of the urban poor swelled, and the attendant increase in crime resulted in a particularly large prison population. Before Molàro was built, prisoners were held in a variety of ad-hoc arrangements, including in the cells of Castèl Gerò, in the basements of court buildings, and most notoriously, in the dungeon of the Doxe's palace. The total capacity of the penal system was only in the dozens to low hundreds at any given time, as punishment was previously focused not on long-term incarceration but on forced labor, house arrest, or various forms of overseas exile. These punishments were administered in the context of a largely homogenous society where creating a semi-permanent underclass of the incarcerated was undesirable. As the immigrant population swelled and modern theories of criminology took hold, though, the state found itself in need of a large, permanent facility for inmates.

Control of the prison, as with the rest of state facilities, passed to the restored Montecaran government in 1935.

Prison life

Life at the prison is generally safe, and the state makes efforts to rehabilitate inmates and reduce the risks they pose to society. Prisoners at Molàro have access to educational opportunities, including the chance to finish secondary school and take university-level courses. Inmates are responsible for most of the prison's day-to-day operations, including cooking meals, cleaning, doing laundry, making basic repairs, doing administrative and clerical work, and growing fruits and vegetables in the garden. This makes the prison a partially self-sustaining community.

Under Montecaran law, inmates cannot produce goods for sale outside the prison. They are given a small weekly stipend of approximately Ł40 which they can use to buy sundries at the commissary and can be sent a limited amount of money by friends or relatives. Inmates are allowed regular visits and phone calls, and are guaranteed access to their spouses, children, attorneys, religious ministers, and consuls if foreign citizens.

The prison has special facilities for VIPs. These are no more luxurious than normal accommodations but are separate from the general population and are assigned additional security.

Controversially, prisoners are grouped by religion and ethnic origin. Atudite prisoners are typically assigned to Unit B and Irfanic ones to Unit C.