This recording was made in early 2016, while gathering material for a BBC radio documentary about Hungary's hardline migration policy. Inmates in the prison behind the Marianosztra Monastery were feeding metal tape through stamping machines to make razor wire to fortify Hungary's border fences against migrants and refugees. The razor wire was also being exported to other countries. 

The inmates were dressed in grey houndstooth patterned prison shirts, so that they looked like convicts from a cartoon. The scene was very distressing, and at the same time utterly surreal. 

Recorded by Maria Margaronis.

Part of the Migration Sounds project, the world’s first collection of the sounds of human migration. 

For more information and to explore the project, see https://www.citiesandmemory.com/migration