QUITO, Ecuador (AP) – Its cold walls are marked with words and colored murals, written and drawn over 139 years by prisoners ranging from chicken thieves to politicians. Rich and poor, good and bad, innocent and guilty, inmates used the walls to record their days living in this human storage facility known as the Garcia Moreno Prison.
The four-block-long building with numerous wings has been abandoned since September, when the 2,600 prisoners living in a space originally built for just 300 people were transferred to a larger and more modern penitentiary. But many of the inmates’ stories of love, misery, desperation and greed remained behind, scrolled in hallways now strolled by visitors on public tours.
Among the messages and images that remain are rapidly scribbled phone numbers and written promises to never return to prison. There are cuttings from newspapers or magazines of pinup girls, and images of Jesus Christ. Clothes, a guitar and other belongings were left behind by departing inmates. Metal watchbands, keys and used batteries are scattered on the floor of one bathroom.
During its many years, the prison was witness to many uprisings and escape attempts. While its high walls separated the prisoners from society outside, they made and respected their own laws, and their own authorities, on the inside.
One of its most famous inmates was Eloy Alfaro, who was president of Ecuador in 1897-1901 and again in 1906-1911. Alfaro was imprisoned by a successor, then killed by a mob that broke into the prison in what was believed to be a politically motivated attack in 1912.