Survivors of Catholic moral rehabilitation institutes in Spain, where thousands of women and girls endured harsh treatment during Franco's dictatorship and beyond, are seeking recognition and redress for their suffering as the country marks the 50th anniversary of the dictator's death.
The institutions were run by the Justice Ministry and overseen by the Board for the Protection of Women - chaired by Carmen Polo, Franco's wife.
They targeted women up to 25 years old deemed to have deviated from strict Catholic moral standards.
Many internments were based on reports from family members or neighbours.
Consuelo Garcia del Cid, 66, told Reuters about the "sinister" centre she spent time in between 1975 and 1976 for being "rebellious".
She has written five books on the subject, and has pushed for religious organisations involved in running the centres, now largely under the umbrella of the Spanish Confederation of Religious Entities (CONFER), to acknowledge their role.
CONFER, comprising 403 religious congregations, plans to hold a forgiveness ceremony on June 9.
The centres housed a mix of single mothers, children of prisoners, and those reported by priests or neighbours for perceived moral failings.
Survivors recount harrowing experiences of psychological abuse, forced labour, self-harm and limited access to education.
The centres meant "moral death of women," "said Mariaje Lopez, 67, who was placed in a board orphanage from 1965 to 1970. "
She said the centres were "the worst thing" to happen to women in Spain.
Lopez, who entered the orphanage after her father's death left her family in dire straits, described the psychological toll of years spent being told she was "worthless" and "bad".
For historian Pilar Iglesias, the centres translated the"vision of women in Francoism, (...) as inferior beings, as weak beings".
Her work into the subject found at least 50,000 victims of the system between 1941 and 1985.
Pilar Dasi, 73, was sent to a board centre in Valencia for several months in 1971, to become "a woman suitable to the regime's standards," she said - which was essentially being a housewife.
One of the most feared centres was the Penagrande maternity centre on the outskirts of Madrid, where many young women were pressured to give up their babies for adoption.
Seventy-six year old Paca Blanco, who was in and out of several board centres between 1967 and 1969, described Penagrande as "the horror of horrors" - a place where children were regularly taken away from their mothers.
Victims' associations estimate that approximately 30,000 Spanish children were taken at birth during Franco's rule.
Activists say the cases were never investigated for lack of evidence or expired statutes of limitation.
The survivors hope their stories will shed light on an often-overlooked chapter of Spain's history.