Carrera Island

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Carrera Island
Carrera Island seen from the northwest (Point Gourde on the left, Gaspar Grande on the right)
Carrera Island seen from the northwest (Point Gourde on the left, Gaspar Grande on the right )
Waters Gulf of Pariah
Archipelago Diego Islands
Geographical location 10 ° 40 ′  N , 61 ° 37 ′  W Coordinates: 10 ° 40 ′  N , 61 ° 37 ′  W
Carrera Island (Trinidad and Tobago)
Carrera Island
length 380 metersdep1
width 250 metersdep1
surface 5.7 hectaresdep1
Residents 300 prisoners (2013)

Carrera Island is an island in the northwest of the Caribbean island state of Trinidad and Tobago , which, together with the neighboring island of Cronstadt Island, forms the Diego Islands group of islands . Administratively, Carrera Island is part of the Diego Martin region . Since the 19th century it was primarily used as a prison island and quarry. A visit requires official approval.

geography

The Diego Islands are located in front of the northwestern tip of Trinidad, Chaguaramas . Both islands belonging to the group are located south of the Point Gourde peninsula; Carrera is the east of the two. The 8.1 hectare island consists mostly of limestone and, together with Cronstadt, represents the remains of a reef. Carrera is roughly semicircular. The interior of the island is densely built up, so that there are only contiguous areas of vegetation near the shore. There are strong currents around the island.

history

Under the Spaniards, who were colonial rulers of Trinidad from 1498 , the island was called Isla Larga ("Long Island"), although the name did not fit the shape of the island. The owner was initially the Spanish crown. In 1791 the then governor of Trinidad, José María Chacón , transferred the island to the Cabildo , the self-governing administrative body of Trinidad, which leased the land.

In 1797 the British conquered Trinidad and with it Isla Larga, which was initially named Long Island. Under Governor Thomas Hislop , the island was surveyed between 1803 and 1811 and a system of paths was laid out. As late as 1820, the Cabildo (which initially also continued to exist under the British) was making money by leasing the island. In 1830 a freight forwarder named Carrera based in Port of Spain bought the island, built a weekend house there and had limestone quarried. The island was named after this owner. From 1854 to 1856 Carrera served as the home for the overseers of the construction of the canal later called "Hart's Cut", which cut the connection of the Point Gourde peninsula with the mainland at its narrowest point. The fortification of the canal consisted of limestone broken on Carrera. In 1866 the island served briefly as a collection point and quarantine station for immigrants. At this time, numerous Indians flocked to the island, who had been recruited as Indenture workers after the end of slavery . After a suitable infrastructure had been created on the nearby island of Nelson Island , the collection point was moved there.

From 1873 at the latest, prisoners were used on Carrera to mine stone for road construction; In 1873 there were 16 prisoners, in 1875 already 41. In 1875 Trinidad was shaken by a series of prison escapes, which led to plans for a prison to be built on Carrera. The construction of a prison complex began in 1877 and was completed in 1880. The prisoners already imprisoned on the island had to build the facility. The first 56 inmates were convicts of the prisons in zentraltrinidadischen Longdenville and located in the extreme southwest Irois . The prison was expanded; In 1901 it already comprised 211 cells. Between 1901 and 1905 around 10% of the prisoners were killed each year by recurring outbreaks of the dysentery . A malaria epidemic broke out a few years later . In 1902, Captain Percy Fraser, in his capacity as assistant to the inspector of Trinidadian prisons, became the director of the Carrera prison, a position he held until 1931 (and after his promotion to inspector in 1905).

During the First World War, the prisoners were used to build defensive positions on the neighboring island of Gaspar Grande and Nelson Island. In the 1920s, the highest point on the island was so far removed by the quarry that a cricket field could be built. A cricket team made up of inmates played against teams from the mainland. The island's economy diversified during this period; In addition to the stone quarrying, there was also the processing of the stone, but also the processing of sisal fibers into mats and ropes as well as a bakery. The most famous inmate of the prison was Boysie Singh , who made the Boca del Serpiente strait between Trinidad and Venezuela unsafe as a pirate in the 1940s and 1950s , ran several entertainment establishments in Port of Spain and was executed for murder in 1957. Singh served in Carrera from 1927 to 1931. In 1931 there was a riot among the prisoners who took guards hostage, but allowed Director Fraser to move them to surrender.

Until the 1950s, Carrera was connected to a steamship line that also served Cronstadt and the Bocas Islands from Port of Spain . In 1970 the quarry was closed; a good part of the island had already been removed by this point. The rise in crime in Trinidad led to an increase in the number of prisoners on Carrera; the peak was reached in 2002 with 490 prisoners. In the 2010s, there was a growing number of voices who opposed the continuation of the prison operations because of the high operating costs and the meanwhile inadequate standard of the facility. In 2013 the Trinidadian government announced its intention to close the prison on Carrera. About 300 prisoners were held there at the time. The prison is currently (as of June 2020) still in operation. The last attempt to escape ended in December 2017 with the fugitive's death by drowning.

Flora and fauna

Due to the official visit restrictions, there is hardly any knowledge about the flora and fauna of the island. The only survey dates from 1984, when Hans Boos, the then director of the Emperor Valley Zoo in Port of Spain, was allowed to visit the island with the permission of the police authorities. In a report for the Trinidad and Tobago Field Naturalist's Club, he found that the island was almost entirely built on with prison facilities. Boos noted spots with low bush cover, horticulture and a small coconut plantation. In addition to feral domestic cats, he only found green iguanas of the species Iguana iguana iguana and fringed lizards of the species Anolis aeneus Gray on animals .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b TTPrisons.com: About Carrera Convict Prison. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018 ; accessed on May 5, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b Anthony de Verteuil: Western Isles of Trinidad . 3. Edition. Paria Publishing, Port of Spain 2011, ISBN 978-976-95008-5-3 , pp. 43 .
  3. ↑ Caribbean History Archives: Trinidad in Hislop's times. Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
  4. ^ Caribbean History Archives: The Cabildo Building. Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Angelo Bissessarsingh: The walls of Carrera Prison . In: Trinidad Guardian . 15th July 2017.
  6. ^ Anthony de Verteuil: Western Isles of Trinidad . 3. Edition. Paria Publishing, Port of Spain 2011, ISBN 978-976-95008-5-3 , pp. 47 .
  7. ↑ Michael Anthony: Historical Dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago . Scarecrow Press, London 1997, ISBN 0-8108-3173-2 , pp. 108 .
  8. ^ A b Anthony de Verteuil: Western Isles of Trinidad . 3. Edition. Paria Publishing, Port of Spain 2011, ISBN 978-976-95008-5-3 , pp. 62 .
  9. ^ Caribbean History Archives: The History of Transportation. Retrieved April 2, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Close Carrera prison . In: Trinidad Express . November 24, 2010.
  11. ↑ LoopTT.com: Drowned prisoner's body to be released to family. Retrieved April 1, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Hans EA Boos: A Consideration of the Terrestrial Reptile Fauna on Some Offshore Islands North West of Trinidad . In: Living World . 1983–1984, 1984. (PDF, 3.1 MB)