Azkaban

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Azkaban
Location information
Location	Island in the North Sea
Permanent residents	Prisoners of the Ministry of Magic Dementors
Affiliation	Ministry of Magic

[Source]

"They don't need walls and water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerful thought. Most go mad within weeks."

—Remus Lupin on Azkaban^[src]

Azkaban is a wizard's prison located on an island in the middle of the North Sea. Presumably, it only serves the magical community of Great Britain, as there are other wizarding prisons elsewhere such as Nurmengard. Using certain Charms, the prison is hidden from the muggle world, and is unplottable. It is thought to have undetectable extension charms placed on it (or similar types of magic) to make it bigger on the inside, as the prison seems to serve the whole of wizarding Britain. It gained a reputation as a horrible place, given that its former guards, Dementors, cause great suffering to those in their proximity; most prisoners eventually went insane and slowly died under their influence. Since 1717, using any of the three Unforgivable Curses on another human being has carried a punishment of a life sentence in Azkaban (unless there is sufficient evidence that the caster did so under the influence of the Imperius Curse, or legal exceptions made by the Ministry of Magic as in the case of Aurors in the First Wizarding War).

Contents [show]

SecurityEdit

Pre-1998Edit

The Daily Prophet announcing the 1996 mass break-out.

Added by Macguyver

Azkaban was guarded by Dementors until most of them revolted and joined Lord Voldemort in summer of 1995. As a result, Voldemort's Death Eaters escaped en masse to rejoin their master in both 1996 and 1997.^[1]
There is most likely an Anti-Apparation jinx on Azkaban; if there were not, wizards and witches could simply Apparate from the prison. However, since it is debatable that most witches and wizards need a wand to Apparate, this may be irrelevant, as none of the prisoners maintain possession of their wands. Before 1995, most of the prisoners would barely have had enough strength to Apparate anyway, as the mere presence of Dementors, particularly in large numbers, inhibits the use of magical powers.
Prior to the Dementors' revolt, the only persons ever to escape the prison were Barty Crouch Jr and Sirius Black, in 1982 and 1993, respectively. Barty Crouch Jr. was smuggled out by his father, Barty Crouch Sr., and replaced by his dying mother using Polyjuice Potion^[2], while Sirius was able to escape by changing into his Animagus form of a dog.^[3]

Bellatrix Lestrange in her Azkaban cell.

Added by You-Know-Who

There is a graveyard outside the wall of Azkaban where the Dementors buried prisoners who died. Although the prison is set in the middle of the ocean with iron walls protecting it, it was unnecessary to keep prisoners inside, as Remus Lupin stated, because the prisoners were already trapped in their own heads due to the intense depression caused by the Dementors. As Sirius indicated, most prisoners went insane after a short while, and some even stopped eating, preferring death to their lives within Azkaban.
It is not known whether wizards made the Azkaban island magically, or whether it was an existing ordinary rock island which wizards took over. If the latter is the case, when the sea level was lower in the Ice Age it would have been a rock hill standing above tundra which is now the bed of the North Sea.

After the warEdit

After the end of the Second Wizarding War and Kingsley Shacklebolt's appointment as Minister for Magic in 1998, Dementors were no longer employed as guards of Azkaban. This is likely because they had proven to be untrustworthy, and because the depression and madness their presence caused in prisoners is considered inhumane. Presumably, other security measures were employed to guard the prisoners, most likely far more humane. It is unknown how many surviving Voldemort supporters and Death Eaters were imprisoned in the aftermath.

Known Azkaban convictsEdit

"We have confirmed that ten high security prisoners, in the early hours of yesterday evening, did escape. And of course, the Muggle Prime Minister has been alerted to the danger. We strongly suspect that the breakout was engineered by a man with personal experience in escaping from Azkaban; notorious mass murderer Sirius Black, cousin of the escapee Bellatrix Lestrange."

—Cornelius Fudge interview to the Daily Prophet about the Azkaban Mass Breakout of January 1996^[src]

Sirius Black

Barty Crouch Jr.

Igor Karkaroff

Bellatrix Lestrange

Lucius Malfoy

Rubeus Hagrid

Stan Shunpike

Dolores Umbridge

Antonin Dolohov

Crabbe

Add a photo to this gallery

Prisoner	Current status	Crime(s)
Avery Jr.	Unknown	Participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Sirius Black	Escaped (only actual unassisted escape from Azkaban while the Dementors were guarding it); now deceased	Framed: imprisoned without trial after being falsely accused of murdering Peter Pettigrew and a dozen other innocent by-standing Muggles, life sentence; now vindicated
Crabbe Sr.	Unknown	Participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Bartemius Crouch Jr.	Smuggled out by his parents; later received the Dementor's Kiss	Torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom with the Cruciatus Curse and murdering Bartemius Crouch Sr., life sentence.
Crispin Cronk	Deceased	Had pet Sphinxes in his backyard.
Mrs. Crouch	Died during imprisonment, disguised as Barty Crouch Jr.	Served time in place of her son, Barty Crouch Jr.
Antonin Dolohov	Escaped in the January 1996 Mass Breakout; later defeated by Filius Flitwick in battle (either dead or re-imprisoned)	Murdering Gideon and Fabian Prewett, life sentence; re-imprisoned for participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Percival Dumbledore	Died during imprisonment	Attacking Muggles without a logical explanation (retaliation for what happened to his daughter Ariana Dumbledore), life sentence.
Mundungus Fletcher	No longer imprisoned; unknown how he escaped or if he was released	Impersonating an Inferius during a robbery.
Marvolo Gaunt	Released after serving at least one term; now deceased	Assault on Ministry of Magic officials, served six months.
Morfin Gaunt	Died in prison while serving what was at least his second term	First term: Improper use of magic on a Muggle and assault on Ministry officials, served three years. Second term: Framed by Tom Marvolo Riddle for murdering the Riddle family, life sentence.
Rubeus Hagrid	Released	Framed: Re-opening the Chamber of Secrets, imprisoned as a safety precaution (falsely accused by Tom Marvolo Riddle); released upon proven innocent.
Jugson	Unknown	Participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Igor Karkaroff	Released; now deceased.	Membership in the Death Eaters; released in exchange for the names of several other Death Eaters.
Bellatrix Lestrange	Escaped during the January 1996 Mass Breakout; now deceased	Torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity through the Cruciatus Curse, torturing and killing muggles and wizards, life sentence.
Rabastan Lestrange	Escaped during the January 1996 Mass Breakout; may have been re-imprisoned after the Battle of Hogwarts	Torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity through the Cruciatus Curse, life sentence; re-imprisoned for participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Rodolphus Lestrange	Escaped during the January 1996 Mass Breakout; may have been re-imprisoned after the Battle of Hogwarts	Torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity through the Cruciatus Curse, life sentence; re-imprisoned for participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Lucius Malfoy	Escaped from Azkaban in 1997; later pardoned	Participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Walden Macnair	Escaped from Azkaban in 1997; defeated by Rubeus Hagrid during the Battle of Hogwarts	Participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Mulciber	Escaped during the 1996 Mass Breakout; current status unknown	Captured prior to Karkaroff's trial (possibly for use of the Imperius Curse); re-imprisoned for participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Nott	Unknown	Participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Sturgis Podmore	Released	Attempting to break into the Department of Mysteries within the Ministry (actually controlled by Lucius Malfoy's Imperius Curse at the time), served six months.
Stan Shunpike	Escaped during the mass breakout in 1997 and controlled by the Imperius Curse	Arrested on suspicion of Death Eater activity; kept in custody to make it look like the Ministry was making progress.
Augustus Rookwood	Escaped during the January 1996 Mass Breakout; defeated by Aberforth Dumbledore during the Battle of Hogwarts.	Spying on the Ministry through his job as an Unspeakable, life sentence; re-imprisoned for participating in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as a Death Eater.
Travers	Unknown	Murdering the McKinnon family, life sentence; escaped during the January 1996 Mass Breakout.
Muggleborns	Released	Muggleborns were arrested when Voldemort controlled the Ministry
Dolores Umbridge	Imprisoned	Imprisoned for her crimes against Muggle-borns as head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission.

EtymologyEdit

Azkaban in 1993.

Added by Wydok

The name Azkaban may be inspired by the famous San Francisco federal prison Alcatraz.^{[citation needed]} It is also located on an island and has had many notorious criminals for inmates, such as Al Capone. It also was infamously known to be inescapable.

Behind the scenesEdit

• There is an added scene in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in which the 1996 mass breakout at Azkaban is shown.
• In the film, Azkaban is also on an island, but the island cannot be seen due to the stormy sea.
• In the front cover of the adult Bloomsbury edition of the third book, Azkaban is shown to be a rectangular tower, while in the fifth film it is more of a triangular tower.
• It is likely that if Sirius's status as an Animagus was known, the Ministry would take certain precautions to prevent him from transforming to escape. This would mean that Azkaban's security measure is not fully enforced for every situation at all times.
• Escaping from Azkaban is apparently a very serious crime, punishable by the worse-than-death Dementor's Kiss. Sirius Black was fated to this, if not for him being rescued beforehand, and Bartemius Crouch Jr. suffered from it when his escape became public. Such a punishment is probably because the escaped prisoners in question are too dangerous to be simply reconfined into the prison, as they could easily escape again.