Coiba Island Penal Colony

Veraguas · Panama · Prison

On the infamous prison island, rusty cell doors slam shut on their own and screams rise out of the empty jungle.

The penal colony on Coiba was founded in 1919 to hold Panama's most dangerous criminals — and, during the dictatorship years, political prisoners, many of whom never returned. Inmates were tied naked to posts in the sun, locked in dark isolation cells, and the dead are said to have ended up in unmarked mass graves or been thrown to the sharks circling the island. The camp closed in 2004 and the jungle has since swallowed its thirty-odd buildings, but rangers and visitors tell of cell doors slamming, footsteps, voices and screams that silence even the island's animals. Today the island is, paradoxically, a national park and World Heritage Site — with one of the region's darkest pasts.

FAQ

Wo befindet sich Coiba Island Penal Colony?

Coiba Island Penal Colony liegt in Veraguas, Panama.