Caseros Prison

The Caseros Prison (Spanish: Cárcel de Caseros) was a panopticon prison in Parque Patricios, a neighborhood in the southern part of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Caseros Prison was conceived by the military dictatorships of the 1960s, originally intended as a short term holding station for prisoners awaiting trial. It was built over the course of almost twenty years, from 1960 until 1979. Finished under the administration of the military junta presided over by dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, Caseros was opened in 1979 to house political prisoners. It was built next to an old prison of the same name, which was originally constructed as an orphanage in the 1880s. In the early 1950s, Juan Perón, cracking down on communists, used the old part to house political prisoners. The prison was closed down in 2001.