Spain Pardons 53 Women Incarcerated by Franco Dictatorship

In a long-overdue move, the Spanish government has announced plans to formally pardon a group of 53 women who were incarcerated as adolescents by the country's former Franco regime. These women were among thousands who were locked up by the notorious Board for the Protection of Women, an institution with echoes of Ireland's infamous Magdalene laundries.

The Board for the Protection of Women was overseen by Carmen Polo, the wife of Spain's dictator General Francisco Franco, and operated under the guise of