at midday. Prisoners were transported outside of camp to provide a workforce for Organisation Todt, as well as to carry out logging and farming jobs. After the work day, prisoners were expected to clean their shoes and uniform. The internal administration of the camp was also largely entrusted to prisoners, a technique commonly used by Nazi Germany to cut down on expenditure and encourage discipline. Jobs carried out by inmates included cooking, washing, enrolment of new arrivals, and organisation of work teams. Commanders were picked from each barracks and some of the prisoners worked for German officers as personal caretakers. Change in management In its early years, the camp gained a reputation for having a relaxed atmosphere and conditions described as "liveable." The guards were made up of German/Austrian reservists and often sympathetic. Inmates could easily rendezvous with family members during outside work and receive gifts of food. An escape was also reported. In December 1944, the head of the SD and SiPo in Bergen, Ernst Weimann, declared that the guards were too friendly and initiated a shakeup of the facility. A full replacement of the guard and partial replacement of management was carried out; regulations were strictly tightened and punishments increased. In March 1945, SS-Oberscharführer Ludwig Runzheimer began in the position of task-force leader at Espeland, and introduced a draconian regime. He made exhaustive punitive exercises a daily affair, not taking age or health into account, and several inmates suffered injuries and trauma as a result. Sometimes prisoners were physically beaten and trampled. This carried on until Germany's capitulation on 8 May 1945. Liberation and post-war use by Norwegians On 9 May 1945, the arrival of the Norwegian Red Cross and Norwegian Police lead to the liberation of 209 remaining prisoners. The camp was adapted to hold Norwegians accused of treason and renamed Espeland tvangsarbeidsleir (Espeland Forced Labour Camp). It was overseen by police until 1 April 1946, when jurisdiction passed to the Norwegian Prison Board. Conditions improved gradually: single-cell barracks were converted into communal ones, leisure activities were provided, and a mess-hall was built. However, as punishment for treason, outdoor work now included the retrieval of corpses from Nazi mass graves. On 25 October 1948, the remaining inmates held for treason were transferred elsewhere and the prison was tasked with holding the 60 Germans serving sentences for war crimes in Norway. By 21 April 1952, many of these