Concepción Arenal, la visitadora de cárceles

Concepción Arenal Ponte (Ferrol, 31 January 1820 – Vigo, Galicia 4 February 1893) was a Spanish feminist writer and activist . She excelled in literature and was the first woman to attend university in Spain . Ideologically , Arenal (Blanca Portillo) was a reformist deeply rooted in Christian doctrine . She was also a pioneer and founder of the feminist movement in Spain and especially , she was visitor of the strict and cruel Spanish prisons . In 1868 she was named Inspector of Women's Correctional Houses and in 1871 began fourteen years of collaboration with the Madrid-based magazine The Voice of Charity . Concepción Arenal and her husband lawyer Fernando Carrasco collaborated closely on the liberal newspaper Iberia until his death in 1859. Penniless she was forced to sell all her possessions and moved into the house of violinist and composer Jesús De Monasterio (Barato) in Potes , Cantabria , where in 1859 she founded the feminist group Conference of Saint Vincent De Paul in order to help the poor and being really supported by the Magdalenas . As Correctional Inspector she meets a motley group of unfortunate women suffering pains , extreme misery , and rejection from some of them . Concepción learns about warden's abuses , as Corporal Goyo Blanco (Òscar Rabadán) against a prisoner and a corrupt prison chief , Garrido (Pere Arquillué) . Meanwhile , a disturbing inmate (Diana Gómez) who had a baby in prison commits suicide by hanging and she helps a distressed prisoner , Petra (Anna Casas) , accused for killing her children . Arenal published poetry books and essays such as ¨Letters to delinquents¨ , "Ode against slavery" , ¨Beneficence, philanthropy and charity¨, ¨Convicts, the people and the executioner¨, or, ¨The execution of the death sentence¨ . The movie arises a questions : Will she come out woman or wildcat? , is the coming out good or is the coming out to avenge the torments and terrors that make a jail for women a college for the crime? .

Interesting and provoking film , including a strong social denounce . As Arenal critics the theories defending the inferiority of women based on biological reasons and the extreme poorness and hardship of the Women Penitentiaries . It contains a sour denounce against abuse on women in prison (WIP) : violence , sadism , physical excess , coercing and forced works . In fact , Concepción wrote books about it , dealing with the authentic experiences of convicts at a gaol that it is a hell in earth . Blanca Portillo as Concepción gives a very good and sensitive acting The motion picture was competently directed by Laura Maña . She is an actress and director, known for Libertarias (1996), La Teta Y La Luna (1994) and Trece Campanadas (2002). She has directed a few and decent films as Sexo Por Compasión , Morir En San Hilario , Palabras Encadenadas , Ni Dios Ni Patrón Ni Marido, Vida Empieza Hoy and Clara Campoamor .

Arenal's achievements were extraordinary in a largely traditional Spain, focusing her work on those marginalised in society . She wrote not only extensively on the state of prisons for both men and women, but also on the role of women in society in works such as The Woman of the Future (1869), The education of women , The current state of women in Spain, The work of women , The woman of the house (1883) and Domestic service . She defended women's access to any level of education, although not to any job because she considered that women were not skilled to be an authority figure. She neither support women's political involvement because they were at risk of suffering retaliation and neglecting their family. It is this work which made her known as the founder of the feminist movement in Spain . She had a close relationship with Krausism intellectuals and collaborated regularly with Journal of the Institution of Free Teaching submitting articles about criminal and feminist topics. Furthermore , the Academy of Moral Sciences and Politics awarded her a prize for her work . Concepción Arenal died the morning in 1893 , Vigo, where she was buried . Her main principle was ¨You must hate crime and feel sorry for delinquent¨ and epitaph is her personal motto : To virtue, to life, to science .