“The Prison of the Not Guilty” is a project about the Foreigners Internment Center (CIE) in Barcelona, aimed at telling the stories of the people detained there through words and images. Its goal is to help people understand that those locked inside the CIE are our neighbors—people imprisoned without trial or conviction. Their only “crime” is having migrated.
These are stories marked by violence and injustice, but also by resilience and survival. Testimonies of individuals who have found the strength to endure up to 60 days of detention, while their families live in constant anxiety, fearing that at any moment a mother, father, sibling or partner may be deported to another country.
The CIE has become an inaccessible place, closed off to the media. The Ministry of the Interior and the National Police consistently deny any requests for access, interviews or information. And the people inside, fearful of retaliation, often refuse to speak—let alone be photographed. Those who make it out mostly want to move on and focus on rebuilding their lives.
This project was awarded the 31st Montserrat Roig Prize for Investigative Journalism, granted by the Barcelona City Council.
