Lisbon Prison To Be Converted into University Residences and Host the Justice Campus

29 January 2019

Following the closure of the Lisbon prison, the City Council intends to convert the building into student residences. However, the Justice Campus (Campus da Justiça) is also looking for a home.

The Lisbon Prison (EPL) will finally close its doors for good. The star-shaped building will be converted into university residences, the Lisbon City Council (CML) announced. The Ministry of Justice also hopes to move its courts to the land surrounding the prison, leaving the Justice Campus in Parque das Nações. Although there are no specific plans as of yet, the municipality has already met with Francisca Van Dunem’s ministry to discuss the move.

The State Budget for 2019 already included plans for closure of the Lisbon and Setúbal prisons. The CML estimates that the process, which will be gradual, will conclude by 2020, as it finishes transferring the 800 current inmates to other prisons. Estamo, the real estate arm of the Portuguese state and the owner of the Lisbon prison, has no definitive plans as yet for the property. It has stated though, that it intends to convert the prison itself into student residences.

Asked by the Left Bloc (BE) about plans for the building and its grounds, the Department of Urban Planning responded: “The current plan contemplates providing a significant area for the expansion of university facilities for the campus of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, which will include some of the land currently occupied by the EPL.”

The document, as confirmed by Manuel Salgado, the Councillor for Urban Planning, also states that “it provides for the transfer of the central body of the EPL (star building) to the Municipality for conversion into collective facilities (student residences).”

“The possibility of having a university residence in that area would be clearly positive, as long as it is public and has a fairly large number of beds. Especially because there is a university centre there and there is a very significant existing need,” Isabel Pires (BE) told ECO. However, she recognises that “there are still no written guarantees.”

And the courts of the Justice Campus?

Beyond the residences, the CML still has to resolve the issues faces the Ministry of Justice. Francisca Van Dunem’s ministry wants to move its courts to the soon to be vacated lands, as confirmed in a note sent to the BE, to which ECO had access. “The Ministry of Justice’s objective is to transfer the courts from the Lisbon Campus [Parque das Nações] to the areas bordering the EPL building. We are in the midst of an ongoing process of coordination with the Ministry of Finance, Estamo and CML to turn this objective into a reality.”

The CML also confirmed that it held a meeting at the Ministry of Justice,” which dealt with the possibility of transferring the courts located at the current Justice Campus to the upper region of the Eduardo VII Park, in an area bordering the Palace of Justice.” However, no definitive plans have been made as to whether the Ministry would transfer the courts to the prison building or its surrounding grounds.

The Department of Urban Planning explained that this “possibility” is dependent on five factors, one of which includes “negotiations between the State and Estamo concerning the possibility of converting the property for other urban uses (housing, commerce and services ) according to the Campolide Campus Urban Rehabilitation Detail Plan.”

Ms Pires stated that the next step should be to “question both the Ministry of Justice and CML once again so they can present a concrete plan for that area as soon as possible.”

The Campolide Campus Urban Rehabilitation Detail Plan was approved in 2014 and states that the prison’s central building – which the state classified as an asset of public interest asset, which therefore cannot be “altered,” will be ceded to the City Council for the ” installation of public-use facilities.” However, the surrounding land – also included in the “package” – can be sold to the private sector, and can be used for housing, commerce or hotels.

Original Story: Economia Online – Rita Neto

Photo: Thomas Meyer / Global Imagens

Translation: Richard Turner