Cuba Guide
Isla de la Juventud
Museo de Presidio Modelo
Address: 2km east of Nueva Gerona – turn off the road to Playa Bibijagua at the small housing scheme of Reparto Chachol
Opening time: Mon– Sat 8am–4pm, Sun 8am– noon
Price: $2CUC, photography $3CUC extra
Although this massive former prison has housed a fascinating museum for over thirty years and is now one of the most visited sights on the island, its forbidding atmosphere has been preserved. Surrounded by guard towers, the classically proportioned governor's mansion and phalanx of wardens' villas mask the four circular cell buildings which rise like witches' cauldrons from the centre of the complex.
Commissioned by the dictator Machado, the "Model Prison" was built in 1926 by its future inmates as an exact copy of the equally notorious Joliet Prison in the US. Unmanned by museum staff and falling into disrepair, the four huge cylindrical cell blocks still feel as oppressive as they must have been when crammed with inmates. As you wander past row after row of vacant cells, and listen to the eerie echo, it's easy to imagine the desperation and injustice in which the prison's history is steeped.
Less disturbing than the cell blocks, the prison museum is located in the hospital block at the back of the grounds. Knowledgeable, Spanish-speaking guides take you around and will expect a small tip. The most impressive part of the museum is the dormitory where Fidel Castro and the rebels of the Moncada attack were sequestered on the orders of Batista, for fear of them inflaming the other prisoners with their firebrand ideas. Above each of the 26 beds is the erstwhile occupant's mug shot and a brief biography, while a piece of black cloth on each sheet symbolizes the rags the men tore from their trouser legs to cover their eyes at night, when lights were shone on them constantly as torture.