"Antonio Ballvé" Argentine Penitentiary Museum

Humberto 1° 378
Tel. 362-5803
Open Tuesdays through Fridays from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.,
Sundays from 12 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Holidays: January and February

The main objectives pursued by this museum consist in preserving and promoting historical heritage and showing the evolution of the penitentiary system in our country. Infact, it is run by the Federal Penitentiary Service, and was named after Mr. Antonio Ballvé, governor of the National Penitentiary in 1904, who greatly contributed towards the humanisation of the prison system, and abolished the so-called "rule of silence". In a central hall his figure is evoked, together with that of José Ingenieros, founder of the Institute of Criminology, and Juan Vucetich, creator of the personal identification system.
The Museum premises - adjacent to Dorrego Square in San Telmo - were declared a National Historical Monument in 1982. In 1735, the Jesuit "Residence " was built on the land now occupied by the Museum, complete with a school and oratory. After the expulsion of the Jesuit order, the building was successively occupied by a women´s home, a hospital, a barracks, a gunpowder warehouse, a lunatic asylum (even the School of Medicine was run on the premises), a penitentiary for both men and women, a women´s prison, and an orphanage. Finally, the Superior Academy for Penitentiary Studies was established in this building, together with a library, publishing house, and the Museum, inaugurated on December 4, 1980. Replicas of cells, uniforms of the Patricios Corps, fire-fighters and police agents, the evolution of inmate´s clothes (including striped uniforms), elements used in escapes, objects from the old General Roca Museum, and objects manufactures by inmates, particularly those in the former Ushuaia prison, can be observed.