Târgu Ocna Prison

In 1851, when Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica visited the area, he was impressed by the poor conditions in which detainees worked at the local salt mine, ordering the construction of a new penitentiary.

After the end of hostilities, Târgu Ocna held "counter-revolutionaries" and common criminals of both sexes, as well as male minors from 1956 to 1997.

On the other hand, as recalled by Richard Wurmbrand, the guards never approached too close, leaving detainees largely to their own devices, and it was among the mildest communist prisons.

Around 40 tubercular "re-educators", veterans of Pitești Prison, were transferred there with direct orders from Eugen Țurcanu to continue the process.

The warden approved only isolating prisoners, not torturing them; the first attempted beating prompted him to threaten them with transfer elsewhere.

Investigations were carried out, and the episode was classified as a failure: the Securitate secret police were unable to replicate the conditions at Pitești, and the prison's position in the middle of town meant that torture victims’ screams could not be concealed.

[2] Inmates who died at Târgu Ocna Prison in the early 1950s include Valeriu Gafencu, Pyotr Leshchenko, and Constantin Tobescu.