Here are pictures of our tour of Isla San Luca, Costa Rica. We were lucky to have our new friend, Sophie, on board with us that day. She is a beautiful local Costa Rican that we became friends with in Tambor. We happened to bump into the caretaker as we were walking down the beach and he treated us to a private tour and Sophie acted as translator. Isla San Lucas used to be Costa Rica's only prison. It has not been in operation since 1991. It was eerie to walk through the old buildings and imagine what life must have been like for those prisoners in such small cells. Since it was Costa Rica´s only prison, the guide told us that sometimes it was very unfortunate that people who had committed very small crimes had to be in the same jail as murderers and worse.
A scenic road leads from the waterfront dock to the front steps of the prison.
Entrance to prison courtyard.
Courtyard.
Each cell held up to 20 prisoners.
What would Jake look like behind bars??
The prison campus had a church (shown here) and medical facility and housing for employees.
The security booth to the prison property.
Our guide told us that the prisoners spent so much time standing at the bars and leaning their forearms on the bars that the bars were worn to the shape of their arms.
This is the Maximum Security Hole where the bad prisoners were sent. Five prisoners could fit in one hole. The heat from the cement in the courtyard would bake them like they were in an oven.
The pier where we docked our dinghy so we could walk ashore to tour the island.
An old shipwreck sits in the middle of the anchorage at Isla San Lucas. That's the Woodduck anchored in the distance.
