Segovia prison break

In the final years of Francoist Spain, the issue of "political prisoners" had grown in importance. Numerous demonstrations in support of an amnesty for political prisoners had taken place, including a general strike in the Basque country in December 1974 Following Franco's death in October 1975, the new head of state, king Juan Carlos, signed a partial amnesty. Despite this, over 600 political prisoners remained incarcerated throughout Spain, with a substantial number of them having connections to the armed Basque separatist group ETA. The Segovia escape would be the largest escape since the Spanish Civil War and the biggest of numerous escape attempts organised by ETA. ==Planning and preparation==

Those planning to escape learnt from Communist Party prisoners, who had been incarcerated longer, that there was a wall space which could be used in an escape attempt. Plans were made for 54 prisoners to escape on 2 August 1975, however, the escape was thwarted after an undercover agent learned of the plans. Following that, preparations began anew. At this point, the prison contained 53 political prisoners and 7 prison guards. The number of prisoners planned to escape was reduced due to the added security following the thwarted escape and the transfer of some of the original 54 planned escapees to other prisons. In total, 29 prisoners took part in the escape, 25 of these belonging to ETA, with the others members of leftist armed group FRAP. In total, the prisoners had been sentenced to more than 1,500 years in prison. Priority was given to prisoners serving longer sentences. A camera had been smuggled into the prison for the previous attempt in order to photograph the participants, so that identity documents and false passports could be prepared. Parcels containing civilian clothing had also been smuggled into the prison. As with the August attempt, the escape was led by ETA, who carried out a detailed study of the prison to identify weak points which could be exploited in an escape. They concluded that the prison's drainage system would offer the best chance and began searching for the quickest way to reach it. Tests on the prison's walls revealed a hollow space behind the toilets and preparations for the escape attempt began in October 1975. Using a piece of metal taken from the prison's lumberyard, the prisoners removed six tiles to create a crawl space, through which they could reach the hollow space and begin tunnelling. To hide their work, they replaced the tiles and built a concealed door. Other prisoners assisted in the escape by making noise during the periods when the excavation of the tunnel was taking place. Having spent a month working to reach the hollow space, the prisoners' work became easier due to the hidden door. Up to five prisoners took turns digging a tunnel towards the exterior of the prison. After digging for two metres they found that they had entered the drainage tunnels below the prison and sawed through the bars to reach these. ==Escape==

At 14:00, the prisoners changed into civilian clothes and took advantage of a gap between roll calls to make their escape through the tunnel, using torches that they had made in the prison for visibility. A support unit of four people was waiting outside the prison with a truck, documents, guns and money. Deciding that the Portuguese border was too heavily policed, their plan was to escape to France, so they drove towards Pamplona. After they changed vehicles, forcing the drivers of a trailer to drive them to Espinal at gunpoint. From there, the plan had been to cross the France–Spain border on foot, but thick fog resulted in them becoming disoriented and lost in the woodland and hilly terrain. ==Discovery and recaptures==

At 17:45, a roll call was taken in the prison and the escape was discovered. A massive manhunt commenced, with police and Civil Guards setting up roadblocks at strategic positions. one of the fugitives was killed and one fugitive and one Civil Guard injured. With the capture of two more escapees at midday on 9 April, only four escapees remained at large. Those who had been detained in Spain were taken to Pamplona, from where they were dispersed to prisons in southern Spain. ==In popular culture==

Ángel Amigo, one of the 29 participants, wrote a book, Operación Poncho, detailing the escape. In 1981, Imanol Uribe adapted the book into a film, La fuga de Segovia, which won the critic's award for best film at the 1982 San Sebastián International Film Festival. The film was a box-office hit in the Basque Country over Star Wars and Superman. ==References==