Prisons to peace centers following civil wars

What does one do with sites (prisons, military barracks, etc.) that are well-known for having been home to the evil that men have done to each other? Does one demolish prisons where political prisoners were tortured so as to erase the horrors of what happened inside those walls? Does one transform the site into a home to promote peace and understanding? Or does one use to historical site to teach current and future generations about their country's history?

Opposition lawmakers in Nicaragua have introduced a bill to turn a notorious torture center into a museum. The first priority is to ensure that torture is no longer being committed there. Then there is the question of what to do next. Tim Rogers at the Nicaragua Dispatch writes

A bill presented to the National Assembly this week by opposition lawmakers seeks to convert Nicaragua’s most infamous jail cells into a torture museum.

Legislators from the Nicaraguan Democratic Bloc (BDN) have presented an initiative that would permanently close the El Chipote prison, the site of the most heinous acts of torture under the Somoza dictatorship and Sandinista government, and convert the rat-infested cells into a national museum—one that most Nicaraguans over the age of 20 would probably be too afraid to visit.

Liberal lawmaker Alberto Lacayo, who is sponsoring the bill, says the jail should be closed due to its “long, painful, shameful and humiliating history related to military-political power, authoritarianism and repression.”

Northern Ireland is moving ahead to turn the Maze Prison into a peace center. Ten IRA prisoners, including Bobby Sands, died there following a hunger strike in 1981. Earlier proposals looked to turn the prison into a multi-sports stadium for soccer, gaelic football and rugby.

In Santa Tecla, El Salvador, a civil war era prison has been turned into a museum. The prison was the first one to hold political prisoners beginning in 1983. It closed with the signing of the peace accords. In he post war, the former prison was used to help train members of the new civilian police before it was abandoned following the 2001 earthquakes. It is well worth the short trip out to Santa Tecla to visit museum and to enjoy a night out on Paseo El Carmen.