The lead mine prison camps in Communist Romania operated in the early to mid-1950s at three sites in Maramureș County: Baia Sprie, Cavnic, and along the Nistru valley.
In 1950, the regime established forced labor camps in order to decongest the crowded prisons and to provide free manpower for its projects.
[1] Engineers and specialists continued to work alongside detainees, who were up to 45 years old and sentenced to short terms, in order to reduce the incentive of escape.
Categories of detainees included Guardists, other political affiliates, peasants, military officers, anti-communist resistance fighters and men found guilty of sabotage during the Danube–Black Sea Canal trial.
Fourteen prisoners escaped one night in June 1953, remaining free for over three months; Ion Ioanid was the last to be captured.
[4] However, it was very wet inside, with acidic water constantly dripping; this gave rise to cases of eczema and conjunctivitis.
[6] A labor camp was established at Nistru in spring 1951 with 50 detainees from Baia Sprie, soon joined by some 200 student "re-education" victims from Gherla and Pitești.
The mine temperature was bearable, but dust was a serious problem, as the prisoners would inhale it, coating their lungs with silica and lead.