The life of the confessors in the Jilava dungeon
The room was actually a vaulted corridor, 15 metres long and 5 metres wide, with an area of 75 square metres, in which there were 350 prisoners, or about 5 people per square metre. A real oven! During the day, the men crowded onto the two wooden “beds” (planks from one end of the room to the other).
At night, a third of them would go under the first ledge to sleep on the cement in the “snake pit”. It was very difficult to get in because there was only 60-70 cm between the cement floor and the first ledge. As the two rows of two beds and the two “snake pits” could only hold 300-320 people, the rest slept at night in the corridor between the prici, which was about one and a half metres wide. But the corridor was also queued with 15-20 people waiting to urinate. They stepped between their bodies. The food was almost all water and it was very cold in the ‘snake pit’. Everyone had to urinate at least 3-5 times during the night.
Next to the entrance door were two metal ‘buckets‘ for biological needs on one side and the two water buckets on the other. The water was used more for washing in the morning and for biological needs, as the water from the food was enough for drinking. As the sleeping area was only 30 cm wide per person, people could only sleep on one side of their body. If the position on one side became too tiring, one of the inmates would give the order to move to the other side. It was a hell beyond the imagination of Dante!
Even more disastrous was the air, because the room had only one window at the bottom, but it was covered with wooden shutters so we couldn’t see outside. The only way air could get in was through the space between the wall and the top and bottom of the 25cm-wide shutters. For these reasons, life in the room was easier in winter than in summer, when the air became unbearable. On the urine and faeces side, anyway! The new arrivals in the room occupied the unfortunate places in front of the urine and piss basins, which were in constant use, and were victims not only of their smell but also of the noise of the faeces falling into the water. Every day, 5-10 people would get an upset stomach because of the total lack of hygiene in which the food was served. The air was even more polluted. There was only one jug for washing the 350 mess tins, so it was impossible to clean them with clean water.
When the inmates left the prison, the new arrivals moved from the door to the window, where the air was better. When they reached the end of the serpentine, they passed the first row of prisoners and again moved from the door to the window. In winter, the second row was considered the best. In summer, however, the first row was preferred, and some younger people even preferred the “snake pit” next to the window, where the air was more breathable. Also in summer, people would come in groups of five and sit on the floor by the wall under the window to feel the fresh air on their noses for a quarter of an hour.
The walk took place only twice a week and lasted 20 minutes, in fact a quarter of an hour. It was a real feast to which we looked forward with longing and affection.
(Nicolae Mărgineanu – Testimonies of a Troubled Century, ed. Romanian Cultural Foundation, Bucharest, 2002, pp. 362-363)