Lukiškės Prison

Lukiškės Prison (Lithuanian: Lukiškių tardymo izoliatorius kalėjimas) is a prison in the center of Vilnius, Lithuania, near the Lukiškės Square. As of 2007, it houses approximately 1,000 prisoners and employs around 250 prison guards. Most prisoners are there under temporary arrest awaiting court decisions or transfers to other detention facilities, but there is also a permanent prison with about 180 inmates; about 80 of whom are serving for life. After more than a century of continuous service, the prison suffers from overcrowding and is in need of investment in thorough improvements. The prison is located in a prestigious area, next to the Seimas Palace. Discussions about relocating it have continued for several years, but the process is slow and is estimated to be completed by 2014.

The prison became more notorious during the Nazi occupation of Lithuania, when it was used by the Gestapo and Lithuanian Saugumas as a holding cell for thousands of Jews from the Vilna Ghetto and Poles, picked up in Łapankas in reprisals for actions by the Polish resistance. The majority were taken to the outskirts of Vilnius and executed at Ponary (Paneriai). When Soviets reoccupied the territory in 1944, the prison was returned to the NKVD who detained thousands of Polish activists and partisans of Armia Krajowa.