Old Prison in San Luis Potosi

Although I’ve visited a prison before, the experience was not bad at all. I was a child when my uncle was a political prisoner. The security check points at the airports in the United States are stricter nowadays that the inspection I went through that day. The visit was in the lunch area, so I did not have access to the prison cells. Out of my curiosity to “feel” a prison, I went to the old prison here in San Luis Potosi, aka hotel Juarez, because it is on Juarez Avenue. This building is very old and beautiful. It was built in 1904 and is made of stone, a real gem. It worked as a prison until 1999. A lot of important people were prisoners here, among them Madero, a Mexican president. It is now a the Center of Arts of San Luis Potosi Centenario. Before I entered the building I parked my butt on the grass to make this drawing. There was not a curious soul around me. I supposed for someone who is drawing in an art center is an everyday sight. After 90 minutes or so I decided to go inside before they close. When I was in the pavilions, the prison cells, now offices,  workshop rooms, rehearsal rooms, storage rooms, have stone frame doors instead of bars, and they are not very high. There was only one small window higher than an average person in every cell. The cells looked spacious…..empty. But with people and furniture in it, that’s another story. There’s no access to seconds floor but for students and professors. I don’t believe there’s difference between the first and second floor cell, except that upper prisoners’ prayers would be heard first by the Lord. This visit did not help me to visualize and feel a prison, everything is so beautifully remodeled that I even thought, if one day I go to jail, it wouldn’t be that bad, but I know is not like that, with all those images of prison we see on television and movies, overpopulated, dirty and full of people with questionable background, I rather behave and be a good girl.