The former penal colony of the Marías Islands located off the coast of Nayarit will welcome visitors as of April, according to the state’s Tourism Department.
The islands served as a prison complex between 1905 and February 2019, when, following a decree by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, all the remaining inmates were transferred to penitentiaries on the mainland.
Built in 1905, under the government of Porfirio Díaz, the Islas Marías prison was “the pride of the government,” becoming the most modern prison of its time, labelled “escape proof.” Although early records of escapes are unknown, the prison reported at least 76 escapes in the last 25 years of its existence.
The island prison complex will be renamed Environmental and Cultural Education Center “Muros de Agua José Revueltas,” after the tome penned by the famous Mexican writer and communist sympathizer who was imprisioned on the Marias three times between 1929 and 1934.
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