A Penitentiary in Patagonia: Constructing a Carceral Ecology at the End of the World (1902-1947)

What is the relationship between incarceration and conservation? In southern Argentina, the exile of recidivists and political figures has been coupled with forest management and labor since the opening of the Ushuaia Penitentiary in 1902. After widespread forest fires the institution closed in 1947, and since 1960, millions of tourists have visited Tierra del Fuego National Park, which occupies the once charred Fuegian forest. The Ushuaia Penitentiary, as an experimental hybrid penal colony-penitentiary, is revealing of early prison-environment relations that are currently being retooled in various places around the world.