Visiting Tirana’s Postblloku/Checkpoint memorial, you’ll see some curious concrete arches - these are the original pillars from the copper mine at Spaç prison camp (Burgu i Spaçit), 100km north of Tirana. It’s relatively easy to visit the abandoned prison buildings there, although they are in bad shape, despite being declared a cultural monument in 2007 and some recent attempts at consolidating the structures against collapse. 
Operating from 1968 till 1990, 'Re-education Unit 303' at Spaç was one of the most brutal prisons in communist Albania, holding up to 1050 political prisoners, who sometimes ended up there for the most trivial of perceived offences. Inmates were not only continuously taunted by sadistic guards, they were also forced to work at the adjacent copper and pyrite mine, still operational today, where they endured dangerous working conditions in 40°C heat and had to shovel 12,000kg of ore per shift. In the prison, food was terrible and rationed to 900 grams of bread, 20 grams of cheese, soup and rice per day. Temperatures inside dropped to freezing in winter, with 30-50 inmates sleeping on wooden bunks in each cell room. 
The site consists of two buildings at the entrance that were used for the civilian mining workforce. Opposite, a stone memorial from 2007 commemorates the suffering of the prisoners in this camp. The prison blocks further up the hillside can be carefully explored. Some weathered signs point out the function of each building, the room at the entrance where family members could visit prisoners, the kitchens and dining hall, and the roll-call area on the terrace below the final building. 
Spaç is famed for an uprising from 21-23 May 1973. Curiously, a stray dog named Tarti played an important role by attacking guards who were beating a prisoner, encouraging others to come to his defence. 500 brave prisoners took control of the camp and raised the national flag without the communist star. The inmates demanded an end to forced labour but had no chance of escaping, and special forces soon violently retook the prison, executing four leaders of the revolt who were buried in unmarked graves and remain missing today. Tarti was publicly hanged in the courtyard. Qafë Bar prison camp, another 20km further north along the same gravel road, experienced a similar revolt in 1984, which was equally brutally put down.
Spaç can only be reached with private transport; drive up the highway towards Kukes and Kosovo, turning off at Reps, immediately after the large service station. Follow the road, winding twice underneath the highway and continuing 8km up a gravel road, passable for normal cars, to the prison site. A visit to Spaç can be combined with a visit to one of the agrotourism restaurants along the lovely valley of Katund i Vjetër village, a 45-minute drive back towards Tirana.