Initially SA-Sturm III (Dresden) under SA-Sturmführer Ernst Jirka guarded the camp, but in May this responsibility fell to SA-Standarte 102 (Zittau) under SA-Standartenführer Paul Unterstab.
The SA forced the prisoners to perform penal exercises, conducted torture under the pretext of interrogation, and directed all but the most serious cases of injury or illness to a cellar for warehousing without medical treatment.
Zittau's underground Communist organization also smuggled propaganda into the camp that let the prisoners know their suffering had not been forgotten: "We know that you have remained loyal to the cause of the working classes with unfaltering courage, in spite of all the terror and despite the harassment to which you have been exposed.
If we send you this greeting despite all difficulties of illegality inside the concentration camp, take it as an avowal of our undivided solidarity with you."
On pain of arrest, released prisoners signed a declaration swearing not to discuss conditions in Hainewalde.
The well-known screenwriter, playwright, and novelist, Axel Eggebrecht, recalled a rumor that the prisoners would be released on May Day, but it turned out not to have any foundation.
A resident of Berlin, he was visiting his father in Leipzig at the time of his arrest, March 5, 1933, which coincided with Germany's election day.
As the prisoners entered the gate, a teacher among them joked that the castle once held the "favorites" of the Saxon king, August the Strong.
When the SA next issued the impossible order to raise the left leg as well, he refused to do so, in the gruff language of the barracks.
Eggebrecht's bunkmate, a Jewish prisoner named Benno Berg, experienced a rare moment of humor after a reeducation session.
A Nazi Kreisleiter lectured the detainees on the Jewish threat, quoting the stock phrase, "the Jews are our misfortune."
In 1948, the Bautzen state court sentenced 39 guards to penitentiary terms for their role in the maltreatment of Hainewalde prisoners.