Adios, Marías…
We tend to romanticize the Islas Marías prison colony as simply a place where prisoners could live out their sentences pretty much free from constraint (other than 110 Km of water between them and the mainland). Yes, low risk inmate were sent there, generally those serving long terms, but no longer thought to be a danger to society at large, but it was a political prison as well. There’s been talk for at least the last 20 years about closing it… prison colonies being a thing of the past… although the Calederón Administration expanded the colony during the “drug war” and considered turning it into a U.S: style “super-max” prison for the worst of the worst.
But… it was what it always was… a dumping ground for the politically and socially inconvenient… a place to send those who the state wanted to forget.
The Mex Files 