'model prisoners'

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A few blocks from the site where the International Aids Conference is due to be held, in the trendy central Barcelona neighbourhood of l'Eixample, is located one of the oldest prisons in Spain. Surrounded by high walls and razor wire, it's a hexagonal construction - a 'panopticon', with galleries distributed out radially from a central hub, from which everybody, and everything they do, can be watched.
The prison, opened in 1904, has the Catalan name of 'La Model' - seemingly sarcastic, taking into account its rundown and dreary aspect. La Model is notorious among Catalans, because so many of them passed through its cells, from the time of the Spanish Civil War until the mid-70s: intellectuals, politicians, writers, all those more or less public personalities whose ideas didn't coincide with those of General Franco. This symbol of repression is still functioning, at least until it is transferred outside the city - something that has been talked about for years now.
I have been there myself, to give a talk about HIV. I had almost to hide what I was doing from the wardens. I still remember their sullen stares, the metallic sound of successive gates closing behind me, the asphyxiating sensation of captivity and the empty stares of people wandering in the galleries, who seemed to want to tell me something, but were unable to. I saw people looking hopeless and precarious, and was not at all surprised to learn of the extent of heroin use inside. Heroin has been widespread in Spanish prisons since the late 70s, with the concurrent health problem that it brings. I was told by a social worker that the incidence of HIV infection

was extremely high, more than 50 per cent, she believed.
My friend Paco is 34 years old. He, like other people of my generation, has