society it must be noticed that by 1919 Ushuaia had 500 settlers
and 550 convicts.
Carlos
Gardel o Charles Romuald Gardés.¿Uruguaian or french?
¿Was he really in this prison?
Life conditions in the prison changed over the years. Although
the convicts sent to this prison were extremely dangerous and they
were under strict surveillance, there were times when the relations
between the warden and jailers and the convicts were almost tolerable.
The journey from Buenos Aires to the prison was cruel to the prisoners,
almost inhuman. They remained in the ships hold, in iron chains.
They were fed the worst food imaginable and were left without any
kind of assistance in their needs. Reaching Ushuaia alive was a
relief. In some cases the convicts would strike a friendship or
two among the jail keepers and some neighbors.
Everything changed during 1931 and 1932. The wardens established
a true reign of terror among the prisoners. There were bloody beatings
and punishments as well as cruel psychological and physical tortures.
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These was the time of highest jailbreak attempts, which usually
ended up in the deaths of the escapees. The neighbors remember seeing
the prison train piled with the bodies of those who did not survive
the punishments. The situation was so critical it even led to a
showdown between the guardians and the Ushuaian police. After two
years of hundreds of accusations, there was a court investigation
that ended up sentencing the jail authorities and the cruelest guards.
The prisons story is also the story of the prison and the
towns relationship. It is the story in the anecdotes of frustrated
escapes, of runaway convicts that returned of their own will a few
days later. It is also the chilling story of some of the most dangerous
criminals in Argentine history, who sometimes were reformed, and
other times ended their lives in dramatic circumstances. The criminals
ranged from political prisoners to anarchists, revolutionaries,
murderers, con-artists, thieves, illiterates, intellectuals and
poets. This prison housed a variety of human behaviors and stereotypes.
It also confined the famous Carlos Gardel, when at a young age
he served time, which was later reduced due to good behavior. Some
even dare say that the convicts in Ushuaia were his first audience.
Although there are many speculations on the reasons for his confinement,
the truth is that his records disappeared forever, probably through
the workings of an admirer.
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