Once home to some of the country’s most notorious killers, including the ‘Mexican Chicatilo’ who killed 100 people, a run-down maximum-security prison on Mexico’s Islas Marias islands has been turned into a glamorous tourist attraction.
According to the Daily Star, the abandoned Islas Marias prison, once called Mexico’s answer to Alcatraz, was nearly impossible to escape due to the island’s remote location, surrounded by shark-infested waters. Although it is believed that there were attempts to escape and the obstacle course in the form of predators was also successfully passed by the criminals.
Located on the largest of an almost uninhabited archipelago of islands five hours by boat from the Pacific coastal city of Mazatlán, the Islas Marias prison has been closed since 2019. Almost three years later, it reopened as a bio-reserve, a fully protected area, and a sightseeing tourist destination.
The prison has seen many famous criminals in the past, but perhaps the most famous of them all was Jose Ortiz Muñoz, known as El Sapo – the “Mexican Chicatilo”. Munoz’s mass murders began when he was only nine years old. The first victim was him, whom, as he believed, the teacher singled out among the others. Muñoz stuck a compass in the teacher’s favorite. He then continued to attack, rape and kill more than 120 people suffered at his hands. In 1946, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison after confessing to his heinous crimes and was sent to an island to serve his time. According to urban legend, El Sapo was a hired assassin for the Mexican government, gunning down around 100 people at protest demonstrations before converting to Christianity and supposedly repenting of his bloody deeds. It is believed that the criminal “with a frog face” was killed by his cellmates, his body is buried on the island.
Marias Island has ceased functioning as a prison since 2019, but in that time it has been transformed into a glamorous resort, and tourists now roam the same corridors as El Sapo and his would-be killers years ago. It is hoped that the new attraction, conceived by Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, will attract interested visitors like Alcatraz in the US.
But the tourist destination is not only for true crime fans: the island is huge and looks more like Jurassic Park than a prison due to its extensive coastline and lush green virgin forests and beaches. “This is excursion tourism, here, on the island, we invite tourists to see the life of nature. The reproduction of history is something exceptional and extraordinary,” López Obrador said in December.
As part of a government project, the maximum security prison was completely renovated to look almost unrecognizable, and guests could stay in the chic mini-apartments that some of the inmates once lived in. Excursions with access to nature are also available for tourists, as well as salt mines, where prisoners were forced to work under the harsh island sun. Weary travelers can reflect on the day over dinner at one of the resort’s new restaurants and retire to a purpose-built villa to unwind.
Ironically, the revamped resort is also dedicated to Nelson Mandela. “Mandela is an example that even behind prison walls, ideals and change can live on for those who want to change history,” the Mexican government said.