JVA Stadelheim - Munich's prison

The modern German word for prison is not Gefängnis or Knast, but Justizvollzugsanstalt. Literally translated this means something like "institute for the execution of justice". The abbreviation is JVA. Munich has one JVA. This is at Stadelheimerstrasse 12 in Giesing, south Munich. It is widely known simply as Stadelheim.



Prisoner Counts

The prison has room for 1,210 inmates. This means that one in every thousand Munich inhabitants can be accommodated here. There are 1,033 single cells and 177 doubles. The jail operates close to capacity with over 90% of the cells occupied at all times. Well, those are the official statistics. According to reports from other ex-prisoners the cells are actually over-capacity with 2 inmates housed in cells designed for just one. You may choose for yourself who you believe, the authorities or an ex-con.

History and architecture

JVA Stadelheim was originally built in 1894. There have been numerous extensions since. Nowadays the prison is a square-shaped compound covering 8,850 square meters. The area is surrounded by two fences: a 3 meter high outer wall to prevent break-ins, and an inner fence to prevent break-outs. On each corner is a watch tower. The fences are protected with the latest technology including video cameras and various other sensors. There have been no prisoner escapes in recent years.

Life inside

The cells themselves are 8 meters square and have en-suite bathrooms consisting of an open lavatory and a wash basin with cold water only. All furniture is permanently nailed to the walls. A luxury jail this isn't. Breakfast is served at 6.30am and consists of white bread, butter and marmalade. Lunch is served at 10:30am and dinner between 3 and 4pm. All meals are washed down with watery tea. Lights out is at 10pm. As of 2004 all this was costing the tax payer over €2,100 per month per prisoner.



Famous Prisoners

It was at JVA Stadelheim that Sophie Scholl and other members of Nazi resistance group, The White Rose, were executed in 1943. A few of the resistance fighters are buried today in the adjacent cemetery in the Perlacher forest.

More recently, some previous inmates include Ingrid Schubert who was a member of the famous German terrorist group the Baader-Meinhof gang. She hung herself in her cell in 1977. Munich's famous computer hacker Kim Schmitz also spent time here. Today the prison is primarily used as a temporary holding place for prisoners awaiting trial. There are many illegal immigrants awaiting deportation, for example, but not so many long term prisoners. This means the foreign population is high, and the native German population very low.

Other Munich Prisons

In addition to JVA-Stadelheim, Munich has two more smaller prisons. One is the women's prison which has capacity for 72 inmates and the second is the youth prison with room for 52. Both of these jails were built in 1904 and are at Am Neudeck 12, adjacent to the Paulaner brewery Nockherberg.

English speaking prisoners

See the reader comments towards the bottom of this page. There are some submissions from English speaking ex-prisoners as well as info about the "English speakers prisoners support group" for Munich and elsewhere in Germany.

Munich Prison - JVA Stadelheim
Stadelheimerstrasse 12, Giesing
Public transport: U-Bahn U1 south to Mangfallplatz
Tel.: 089 699220
Visiting hours: Mon-Thu 12-15hrs (max 3 people per visit)
Website: JVA Muenchen Stadelheim

I spent time in Stadelheim, 10 weeks in 1989. For drunk and disorderly charges. I had a great time there, I had been working on the Oktoberfest site and was banged up the day before it started. I had a single cell, with a built in radio. I had a job as a kartoffel commando. I was in charge of bunch of Turks and we stacked the kartoffel store full with the years supply, spookily, shipped in from Dachau, where apparently they have the best soil for growing potatoes! I was treated very well, given tobacco by the guards and lots of food and stuff from older prisoners (I was 18 at the time). Probably the most valuable lesson I ever had!

I spent about 3 months in good old Stadelheim awaiting trial. I was placed in Nordbau, where apparently most foreigners end up. It was 2002, and was yet to be renovated. I must say, the gaurds were excellent people. They were very chatty and were all around nice people. Also, the people who place prisoners in cells are rather good at it, I was placed with a Brit which was great for me as an American! If anyone ends up there, do say you are Catholic when they first interview you. You can then go to choir 2x a week and mass on Sundays (trust me, you'll love any chance to get you out of your cell). All in all, it was good time... the only problem was no women and you couldn't leave! :)

Quote from the above article: "A luxury jail this isn't"

Please note Prisons are not intended to be places of luxury. It would kind of defeat the purpose of the facility, don't you think?

Ken

hey guys,

i was 14 month in good old St. Adelheim and i tell u it was the bloody hell. full so much dirt and a lot of violence. thanks to god i was 4 years in some f***ing jails in bavaria but the worsest was stadelheim so never go there. it's better for u.

if someone from romania was caught stealing in germany and sent to your jail, but not convicted yet, on the 24th of february 2005, how long will it take for us to know when the trial is taking place? please give us a hint on how the whole procedure of trial is on our email adress or on this page.

in addition to what Patrick says, these guys:

www.espsg.de

...are the English Speaking Prisoners Support Group. This is a church run organzation. I know they go to Stadlheim quite a lot. They provide pen-friends to English-speaking prisoners and regularly deliver English books to the various Munich prisons.

They do a great job and if you're interested in being a penfriend (it's very rewarding I can tell you) or donating books or anything then email them!

I also am involved with the EPSG and can also vouch for this group. They do a good job and provide a really good support system for people who either deservedly or through unfortunate circumstances find themselves in the Bavarian prison system and have english as a first or second language. Most are asylum seekers who came to Germany illegally and/or without proper documentation and have been incarcerated awaiting trial. Most are deported backed to their home countries after their trial.

The prisoners make contact with you via a church in Munich so they don't have your personal contact information - unless you give it to them on your own accord. Most are actually deported but for the few that remain in Germany, there are services in place to assist them with life on the outside, i.e. finding a job and a place to stay. So you don't have to worry about someone showing up on your doorstep wanting food, money and a place to stay.

It's a good group. Check it out!

hi, how do you visit the prison? i'm visiting someone there but i dont know how to see them, im going on saturday... also, do they have internet? thanx

i only have some second hand information: you need to have an official identification with you, ie passport and they will search your bag / pockets / etc. before you go in (rather obviously), am afraid that's all i can tell you...

I've seen it called St. Adelheim, a lovely irony.

i had the unfortunate pleasure of spending 5 months in this hell off a place. from march 25th to august 25th 1997 on remand. i dont know about 1 or 2 cells. but i shared with 5 others in a cell. locked up 23 hours a day. with all sorts of people from all kinds of countrys. except germans. even the british consul could not understand why i was left so long. probally the fact i was a brit (scottish).

Have never understood why people ignore the obvious solution to bad, overcrowded prison conditions: If you don't like them, don't do shit
to get yourself put into them!

I was with my friend in stadlheim in bavaria.
My friend was killed there freom a psycho.
Its the hole

is the room/chamber where the white rose group were guillotined still there, and is the machine stored anywhere? Thanks