Mexico’s last island penal colony may now host cruise ships

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Cruise ships may soon be visiting Mexico’s former Isla Marias penal colony, after the last island penal colony in the Americas was closed and turned into an environmental education center in 2019. The education camp hasn’t gone very well _ only 40 youths have been trained on the island _ and the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is now trying a different tack. Officials are planning to build a cruise ship dock on the main island, the only one of the four that is inhabited. Visitors can tour the remote island jail, somewhat like the one depicted in the movie “Papillon.”