It is interesting to know a bit more about Isla de los Estados. The squadron sights land there and in San Juan Cape (in the north east extreme of the island) they enter the fjord Lasserre calls San Juan de Salvamento. The Argentine Navy set up the first sub-prefecture there, in the south extreme, and the lighthouse that would help navigation becoming “the last light that marked the End of the World”, according to Jules Verne. The sub-prefecture staff’s mission was to rescue wreckers and the place could be used as a port of landfall in case of emergency. This is the reason why Lasserre names this port as “Salvamento” (Salvage).
The inauguration ceremony took place on May 25 and the lighthouse started to shine. In 1902 it was replaced by the lighthouse installed in Observatorio Island (former Cook Island) to the north of Isla de los Estados in the group of islands known as “Islas de Año Nuevo”.
While the lighthouse was open in San Juan Cape, several pilots and captains complained because they were confused because of its location. There were different causes such as the islands and rocks to the north of the lighthouse or the fact that the light was repelled by the fjord wall and pilots got confused and believed that there were two lights.
Sometimes, there are arguments about which is the “Lighthouse at the End of the World”. I do not think. I am the only one who is right about this, but I believe it is worth transcribing a phrase published in the French weekly magazine on water sports Cols Bleus, “The Argentine Republic had the brilliant idea of building the lighthouse at the end of the world and all nations should be grateful.”

As a consequence of the 7th International Geography Congress (Berlin, 1899) the Royal Geographic Society of London asks the Argentine government to collaborate with the International Committee in charge of the organization of the Antarctic Expedition. Then, the Argentine Navy sets up the lighthouse and a series of buildings to establish a meteorological and magnetic observatory in Observatorio Island. On October 1, 1902 the lighthouse of San Juan de Salvamento turns down and the one of Observatorio Island turns on. Charcot’s and Nordenskjold’s expedition sighted land there as well as the Uruguay corvette on a rescue mission, and many expeditions to the Antarctica used the place as an observatory base and the last point of contact with the world before going to the White Continent. The installations were dismantled in 1917; only the lighthouse remained there.

The Military Prison of San Juan de Salvamento worked from 1884 up to 1899 when it was moved to Puerto Cook for humanitarian reasons. In 1898 this prison lodged less than fifty “compulsory inhabitants” (as journalist R. Payró once reported). They were all military men - one official; the rest were privates - and almost half of them were convicted of homicide. When the prison of Santa Cruz (Cañadón de los Misioneros) was closed down in 1896, some of the convicts and constructions were sent to Isla de los Estados. We also got to know through Roberto Payró (The Argentine Australia) that six of the convicts lived with their women, “... as if they were trying to settle down a sort of penal colony there...”
The prison was in Puerto Cook until 1902 when it was decided to move it - again for humanitarian reasons - to the bay of Ushuaia. It was when the population reached 120 men that there was an uprising and the famous escape took place. When part of the prisoners were being taken to the Military Prison built in Golondrina bay (to the west of the town of Ushuaia), a group of 51 convicts ran a riot and controlled the military staff. A small group of these prisoners on board of a small boat succeeded in crossing Le Maire strait thus arriving in Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego (see Escape from Estados and The Fugitives of Isla de los Estados, by Alfredo Becerra) drawing the attention of the whole country till they were apprehended.

Not being a penal colony, Puerto Cook lodges some convicts’ families. El País newspaper published on August 13, 1901 that past the yard and the kennel, “... some distance away from the prison there are four modest cabins that lodge a number of other convicts’ families.” In 1902, the military prison was moved to Isla Grande of Tierra del Fuego, in Puerto Golondrina. On February 27, 1903, a decree of the Ministry of Navy named it “Presidio Militar de Ushuaia” (Military Prison of Ushuaia). It was situated to the west of the town some 5 kilometers away on the road leading to Lapataia. The prison worked there till 1911 when, due to a presidential decree, it was merged with the Second Offenders Prison. This means that the prison started to accept military convicts. So, together with President Roca’s penal colony, there was a Military Prison and a National Prison or Second Offenders Prison.

In 1890, governor Cornero - Paz’s successor - insisted on setting up a penal colony (based on Roca’s project) and added an arts and crafts school for orphans under judicial tutelage. But it was not until 1895 (12.26.1895) when Law N° 3335 settling that the serving of corrective punishment or prison imposed on second offenders for the second time was passed. The first fourteen convicts that set sail aboard “1º de Mayo” transport on January 5, 1896 were volunteers. On January 16, aboard “Ushuaia” transport, the second convicts’ shipment, with ten women volunteers left the port. The idea was to settle down a penal colony - that is why women were sent.

It is evident that the governor struggled for a “penal colony” to make population increase and to use the convicts’ work force for public works. After a series of disagreements with the minister of Justice, the Executive ordered the governor to start building the “Second Offenders Prison” (such its first name). They also welcomed some governor’s suggestions such as increasing the number of warders to seven, sending winter clothes for convicts and a military guard, and some other suggestions of administrative nature. But the opinion of the minister of Justice (Dr. Bermejo) was quite different, so he created the post of Director of the Prison of Second Offenders thus delimiting the governor’s jurisdiction over the prison. Mr. Pedro Della Valle was appointed Director on May 1, 1897 and received the establishment from the Government. It is interesting to note that soon afterwards, he suggested the minister of Justice, Dr. Osvaldo Magnasco, the creation of a penal colony where prisoners with good behavior would be granted land to settle down in the territory. At that time, and while the idea of penal colonization was growing, the National Penitentiary was overpopulated and needed to get rid of a number of convicts. Thus, the first convicts sentenced to prison (this was the worst punishment at that time) arrive in the territory. Therefore, the second offender’s prison becomes a state prison.
In 1898, when Mr. Pedro Della Valle was the director of the prison, Argentine president Don Julio Argentino Roca visited the prison on a trip to the region in 1899 and got a good impression of its director. Soon afterwards, the sawmill of the prison for which many convicts worked burnt. That same year, the first ten prisoners sentenced to prison penalty were sent. The Italian engineer Catello Muratgia was sent to consider the replacement of the sawmill that had set on fire. Back in Buenos Aires, he elaborated a project to be applied to Ushuaia. He was appointed director replacing Pedro Della Valle in 1900 and insisted on the moving of the prison in Lapataia as there were plenty of woods and as the convicts’ work would be favored by isolation. A large plot of land (2,500 hectares) was therefore reserved. Later on, it would be part of the present Lapataia National Park. The small town of Ushuaia generated commerce and was a scale for ships of sea lion hunters, gold diggers and cattle dealers. Another source of activity was the penal establishment. When settlers got to know about engineer Muratgia’s plans of moving the prison, they protested that this would bring about the vanishing of the village. After a short stay in Buenos Aires and having confirmed that the funds available for the building of the prison depended mainly on the good will of the present Minister and not on a financial allotment - at least at the beginning. Maybe listening the settlers’ protest, he determines to start the construction in the same place where the prison was situated till that moment. The site was in the east part of the village, in the same place where the building is at present.

Thus, a key date for Ushuaia and its Prison arrives: on September 15, 1902, the foundation stone of the “National Prison” is placed at the entrance of what was going to be pavilion N° 1, present Historical pavilion. The works started by smoothing and filling the plot of land, and then came the machinery sheds, the sawmill-forge, the carpentry and the exploitation of a quarry and stone grinding plant. It was imperative that these workshops were built to make it possible to construct the premises. Materials were transported by small wagons running on wooden rails (Xylocarril system) and, later on, Deucauville system of iron tracks on which the famous “convicts’ train” used to run. This train joined the prison with camps in the woods - where trees were cut down - crossing the village along the coast.

By 1907, the prison had an important number of workshops such as shoemaker’s, tailor’s, carpentry, sawmill, a noodles factory, a laundry, an anthropometrical office, photography, fire brigade headquarters, printer’s, a building for the band, cabinet maker’s, a library containing over 1,200 copies, school, drugstore, medical service; apart from this, the prison had a telephone and electric power. All these services were also enjoyed by the village of Ushuaia and settlers benefited not only from them, but also from departments such as the bakery or the cabinet maker’s - when, for example, somebody needed some furniture because of a marriage or a new member in the family. Workshops were run by a person engaged for teaching the convicts his tasks. The idea was that the convicts were, at the same time, busy doing something useful and getting ready for the time when they would be set free, i.e. that they would learn a craft.

As the disciplinary system was based on remunerative work, convicts could save some money that they would spend on tobacco or would send to their families. Once free, they would be able to afford expenses during their first days of liberty till finding a job. The daily pay - according to the work - ranged from 20 or 40 cents to 1 peso depending on each prisoner’s behavior. The small village of Ushuaia benefited from the convicts’ work in the setting out of streets and in the construction of buildings and bridges. Thus, the convicts’ presence became usual for the inhabitants of the town. They only draw the attention of the few people that visited the place at that time.

The original idea was to build a “Penal Colony” for 580 prisoners in Lapataia. Eventually, a structure of 5 pavilions arranged radially, to make vigilance easier, was built. Each pavilion was made up of 76 exterior cells adding up to 380 unipersonal cells. This kind of construction was known as “Lucca system”. In the extreme of each pavilion an architectonic hammer was added. It was used for different purposes according to the moment and the pavilion it belonged to. The one in pavilion 1 was used as a bathroom and correctional prisoners were lodged there; in number 4 there was a library and an infirmary; there were showers in number 2. And there was a time when there were convicts in all of them. The prison was then overpopulated - there were over 600 prisoners. The kitchen was situated between pavilions 1 and 2 and the bakery was built between number 1 and 3. All pavilions lead into a central hall called roundabout which was the place where all convicts gathered. Prisoners walked through this roundabout to go to the workshops or to go out of the prison to work. When prisoners were inside their cells, they could be watched out from this central hall.

his prison was distinguished because it never had an encircling wall - just a two meters high wire fence with four lines of barbed wire separated the penal from the village. Consecutively, both settlers could see inside the prison and convicts outside it. Surrounding the place, there were reserves, guards and sentry boxes occupied by the security staff (at the beginning they were military men and then came warders). These men were armed with rifles, and fixed bayonets. They always kept a prudential distance forming circles around convicts and never got in touch with them. Guards’ work was quite different - they were not armed and spent their lives among prisoners.

The “convicts’ pier” was another of the constructions of the premises, where prisoners embarked and disembarked. In the shipyard, the vessels of the prison were repaired and others built - such as the famous “Godoy” patrol. Further to the east, there was the warden’s house. And the main entrance, the director’s house, those of officials such as the physician and the cook, and the administrative offices were near the main street of the village of Ushuaia - present San Martín St. The guard post and the main reserve were situated opposite the reception hall. The construction went on till 1920. Anyway, some buildings that still remain were built later on. This is the case of the present Naval Hospital inaugurated in 1945. The few travelers that arrived in Ushuaia by ship described the penal colony as a huge mass of gray stone with many minor constructions situated in a disorderly way. These were workshops - some made of rubblework and others of wood and zinc.

A neighborhood for employees had been planned, but it was never built. Generally, guards and warders used to live in town. As the establishment grew, more and more people from the settlement were employed. Besides, the provision of food made some families prosperous - from cattle breeders to the owners of small sailing boats (who used to bring sheep and other provisions that the settlement needed) were benefited. Ushuaia’s population was made up of some Argentine people and many immigrants. Apart from the Chilean, the two major collectivities were those of the Spanish and the Dalmatian. Later on, the Italian arrived. But the real professional “jailers” were the Spaniards from Galicia who - descending from generations in the profession arrived in Ushuaia as soon as the activity in the prison began. In so doing, an important number of families settled down. Apart from working in the prison, they engaged in other activities such as fishing, cutting firewood, cultivating in small farms and very many others. A lot of these newly arrived people worked for a long time just for their uniform and meal. Their appointment - due to the slow means of transport at that time - could take a whole year or even more. Once they were appointed, their families came. In many cases, part of the family arrived as they wrote letters to their relatives, thus repeating the previous procedure.

Most merchants earned their living from the prison and its employees. This means that they sold food for the convicts and some modest luxuries such as pieces of cloth, liquors, tobacco and other trifles to employees and their families. When payday, people paid up their debts. Payday was frequently late, and there were cases of people who bought small debts with substantial profits being sure that the financial allotment would come. The Director of the Prison himself complained about this situation. We can read a letter from engineer Catello Muratgia to the Minister of Justice about the abusive price of livestock provided by a local family, and the possibility of buying it from the Salesian at a lower price on condition of paying it in cash.
To have an idea of the civil and penal population, we can resort to father Martin Gusinde’s comment who, in 1919, writes to the President of Chile about his finding Ushuaia with 500 settlers and 550 convicts. Although we cannot judge if these numbers are exact, he can give us an idea of the situation to its full extent. According to Dr. Angel E. González Millán’s account of his visit of 1936, the staff and the penal population were more or less equivalent, i.e. about 800 people out of a total population of 3,800 in Tierra del Fuego.
Margarita Wilder was born in 1931 in Ushuaia. Her mother, native of Chile, fell in love with an English man and they settled down in the small town. She briefly summarizes what familiar life was like: “My father was a warder. We never had problems with the prison. The institution employees’ children were given bread. We used to go for it with small bags. At that moment we saw the prisoners around there, but we never had any problem. When they were working in the streets or passed by on the small train they used to look at us, but nobody ever bothered us. When convicts run away, they annoyed none and nobody ever feared them; not even when some of them escaped: when I was a little girl, a friend of mine and I once went into the wood after school to pick up strawberries. When we were far away we saw a man sitting on a stone, but he did not say anything to us. That night, when back at home, I learnt from my father that a prisoner had escaped.” Her father told her that when some convict was punished he ended up in hospital or in the cemetery. They were lock up in small cells of two meters and two and even in the depth of winter some were hosed down with cold water and in this condition they woke up the next day. “Guards, who wore a black uniform, were the most wicked with prisoners - evil, indeed -; this was not the case with warders.” She remembers that many of the convicts, when set free, used to visit some warders to say good-bye. A prisoner that once came to have supper to her place told her family that he had been imprisoned unfairly for 25 years and explained his case to them: he had left home late to look for a midwife as his daughter was about to be born, so he passed by a cheap restaurant where there had been a fight and a murder and he was caught - by mistake -, but he was sentenced and sent there. “They were brought to Ushuaia with shackles in both feet and they walked form the port to the prison pulling along their chains.” Margarita graduated from school and at the age of 15 she began to work at the old hospital that burnt down. She became a nurse there. When the doctor she worked for opened a private hospital, she got a job there and at the age of 18 she started working at the Naval Hospital.