Penitenciaría Nacional (Buenos Aires)
In the jurisdiction of the Servicio Penitenciario Federal (SPF), La Penitenciaría Nacional was an imposing building on Las Heras Avenue (named in memoriam of Gral. Juan Gregorio de Las Heras), in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, until it was demolished in 1962. National Penitentiary. The city called for “Plans and Budgets for the construction of a Jail Building”, in 1869 by decree, with the penal standards of the time; the attempt was to fulfill the constitutional rules of 1853: Art. 18. This, a system of humiliating repression, was the model for the time, with  prisoners who were worked hard and didn't have uniforms. Construction began in 1872 with the plans of the architect Ernesto Bunge. Construction was finished in 1876. A system of penitentiary regime and a plan of working the prisoners was adopted and officers were hired. Enrique O´Gorman was the “Governor of the Penitentiary” and was independent of Judicial Power. It was inaugurated privately on 28 of May 1877, with one disguised opening. This “medieval castle” was filled with 300 prisoners who had overpopulated the Town hall Penitentiary. Geographically, the Penitentiary was in the Province of Buenos Aires. Its walls were  punctuated with towers and sentry boxes for prison guards. It was in a smooth ravine, with an iron gate. Shelter. There were two categories of inmates: Penados (convicts) and Encausados (Defendants). The state of living in the penitentiary was improved under the direction of Antonio Ballvé, between 1904 and 1909. He asked that José Ingenieros visit the prison and study its system. He studied the prisoners and their physical characteristics, a system of reward and punishment was set up, and the silence regime was eliminated. With time the norms were made flexible; visits to intimates began, the visitor was allowed  to say their name to the prisoners, and the shackles and striped uniforms ceased to exist under the direction of Roberto Pettinato, in the government of Juan Perón. The patios were made into orchards. It had a factory to supply to the penitentiary and other public institutions. Transfer and Demolition. In 1909, new city-planning began. Soon the building, with its resemblance to a castle and its great walls, was in a rich, populated, and elegant district. the prisoners were transferred, and demolition began on September 6, 1961, and ended on February 5, 1962. Over time, the penitentiary became outdated : the prison population increased to the point where it was no longer efficient. This was not a lesson only for this prison, it taught other prisons to avoid the problems of this regime: carelessness, lack of hygiene, general discomfort, etc. Rather, prisons learned to make conditions in the prison more adequate.