The La Model prison was based on the system devised by English thinker Jeremy Bentham, who came up with the idea of the panopticon, a type of institutional building with a central tower that allowed the whole complex to be controlled from a single surveillance point. The architects Salvador Vinyals and Josep Domènech i Estapà were responsible for its construction. Under the Franco regime, it became a symbol of repression: many political and trade union prisoners spent many years in its cells. Prisoners were executed here until 1974. The last was Salvador Puig Antich, one of the last victims of the dictatorship, who was executed by garrotte vil—and it was to him that Barcelona film director Manuel Huerga dedicated the film Salvador.
The future demolition of the Model prison will free up an area equivalent to one and a half residential blocks for neighborhood use. That means residents in the Nova Esquerra de l’Eixample will gain a sizeable area for green spaces and municipal facilities, including a nursery school, a day center for the elderly and a sports center.
Entry is free. Self guided visits are available on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays (not including public holidays). There are also guided tours offered in Catalan and Spanish that must be booked in advance via the website. Tickets for the guided tours are released every two months and they run out fast, so you'll need to mark the release date in your calendar or you won't find availability.
