Azkaban

Harry Potter Locale
Azkaban
Location	The North Sea
Affiliation	British Ministry of Magic
Permanent Residents	Dementors (now believed to have deserted) and convicted criminals
First Appearance	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Azkaban is the fictional wizard prison in the Harry
Potter series of books by J. K.
Rowling. Wizards who violate the laws of the British wizarding community are sent here (it
is not clear whether there are other prisons for wizards in other
countries, but this is probably so). By the start of the series,
Azkaban is guarded by the foul dementors
working under the British Ministry of Magic. Generally, only very
severe crimes are punished with a term in Azkaban. Many of the
prisoners were supporters of Lord
Voldemort.

According to Half-Blood
Prince, Azkaban is located "somewhere north of the North Sea,"
which may place it somewhere around the Shetland Islands. Azkaban is probably not
found on Muggle maps, as wizard land is often made hidden or
Unplottable (therefore keeping it secret from Muggles and even
sometimes from other wizards) and as a wizard prison, Azkaban would
probably be especially secretive.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or
ending details follow.

Azkaban has a horrible and justified reputation. Its remote
location is more of a precaution than a safety measure— the mass
presence of dementors renders the inmates incapable of happiness
and forces them to relive their worst memories, as they become
gradually helpless and very often severely insane. According to
Sirius Black, many inmates simply stop eating and eventually die of
starvation. As dementors are extremely difficult even to injure—the
only spell effective against them is the Patronus Charm, which only repels them—Azkaban
was long considered escape-proof.

Prime among the crimes for which someone can be sent to Azkaban
is the performing of one of the three Unforgivable
Curses: the Imperius
Curse, the Cruciatus
Curse, and the Avada
Kedavra. Performing one of these curses against any human is
punishable by an automatic life sentence at Azkaban.

Azkaban has not played a direct part in the series, but lurks in
the shadows. In Chamber of
Secrets, Hagrid is placed under temporary imprisonment there,
an experience so traumatic that he refuses to talk about it after
being released. Sirius Black becomes the first wizard known to
escape (Prisoner of
Azkaban), although it is later discovered that Barty Crouch Jr. escaped with the help of
his parents while Sirius was still imprisoned (Goblet of Fire).
Albus Dumbledore once declared in front of
the then Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, that he could easily break
out of Azkaban.

At the present moment Azkaban has been severely compromised;
Professor Dumbledore has always been vocal
in declaring that it was a mistake to guard Voldemort's greatest
supporters with those creatures who have the most to gain if
Voldemort returned to power. In Order of the
Phoenix he's proven right as the Dementors leave their
posts at Azkaban and join ranks with Voldemort. The prison is still
in use, but emasculated by the revolt of its wardens. Presumably
Aurors are
the only ones who stand between the convicts and their freedom.

Spoilers
end here.

Inspiration

Prisons are often put on islands because escape is made more
difficult. It has been often suggested that Azkaban is based on
Alcatraz Island in San
Francisco, as one of the most famous island prisons.
Similarities include:

• The names are similar


• They are both located on an island


• Both were believed escape-proof, until it was proved otherwise
  (though it is still believed that no one has escaped from Alcatraz
  and lived)


• Both are/were for high offenders, such as those who have
  committed murder

Phonetically, the name Azkaban might be a conflation of Alcatraz and
Baskerville. Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban contains echoes of Conan
Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Both feature escaped convicts (Sirius and Selden) and sinister
hounds supposedly portending death. J.K.
Rowling's hound is named "the Grim"; Conan
Doyle's marshy location is "Grimpen Mire".

The place may also be inspired partially by Angband, the
fortress of Morgoth found in the works of J.R.R.
Tolkien, as well as Devil's Island, the horrendous French
prison.