Inside Amsterdam's abandoned 'humane' prison

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The Bijlmerbajes prison complex in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, was built as a 'humane prison' and opened in 1978. Situated close to the Amsterdam Amstel railway station, it consists of six high-rise buildings, each operating as a separate prison. The buildings are joined by a 260-meter (850-foot) long tunnel called the ''Kalverstraat'.

Besides the six towers there are also six external areas (one for each tower), three gymnasiums or sport-centres, a small religious building functioning as church and mosque. A central front building houses some central functions such as the kitchen, visitor reception rooms, the entry processing department and the offices.

Being a 'humane prison' the windows didn't have bars at first. However, it turns out the glass wasn't unbreakable, so bars were retroactively fitted. On each tower, measuring 14 stories high, each two floors operate as a different department, connected via open stairs. Two large lifts were used by the prisoners only and a special small lift was available for staff. Each prison department would accommodate different types of prisoners: repeated offenders, drug addicts, prisoners with psychological problems, prisoners for light crimes etc. 

The Bijlmerbajes prison shut down in June 2016. It was one of the several prisons that have closed in the Netherlands during the last years due to the country's low crime rate and short prison sentences. The prison however remained empty only for a short time. As of 2017 it is being used to house refugees seeking asylum while it also operates as a cultural hub for locals. Meanwhile, there are already plans to transform the former prison to a new neighborhood powered by renewable energy and built largely from recycled materials.

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*MODERN LIFE/flickr.com

Tiemen Rapati/flickr.com

Angelique Brunas/mediadrumworld.com/dailymail.co.uk

Angelique Brunas/mediadrumworld.com/dailymail.co.uk

Angelique Brunas/mediadrumworld.com/dailymail.co.uk

The underwater Soviet Rummu prison in Estonia

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The Rummu prison, which opened in the 1940s by the Soviet Union in what today is Rummu, Estonia, was built in a convenient location: near a limestone quarry that inmates of the labor camp were forced to excavate. 

Forced labor at the site continued until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. After the prison shut down, the quarry quickly filled with groundwater and as no one was there anymore to pump out the water, it immersed in it some of the utility buildings and machinery, thus forming a lake. 

Today, the crystal clear lake that was formed in the site of the quarry has become a location for nature photography, hiking, scuba diving, and a summer spot for music and sports events. The lake has a unique appearance due to the minerals that were disposed there when it was still an excavation site. 

Although swimming and diving in the lake is extremely dangerous, many visitors ignore the warning signs. At least 2 of them have died there during the last years. 

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Eve-li/flickr.com

Jaan Keinaste/flickr.com

The abandoned Essex County Jail of New Jersey

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The old Essex County Jail was built in 1837 in the University Heights section of Newark, New Jersey. It was designed by architect John Haviland, a major figure in the American Neo-Classical architecture of the 19th century, most notable for Eastern State Penitentiary. Known then as Newark Street Jail, it was built to replace an earlier structure built at the present site of the Grace Episcopal Church. 

The jail consisted of a two story square building, built of brick and local brownstone in the Greek Revival style. In 1890, the original building was expanded with multiple additions increasing the number of prison cells up to 300. The jail was also updated to include running water and toilet facilities in each cell. Later expansions also took place in 1895, 1904, and 1909.

The prison closed in 1970 after a new jail was built. Initially, the Essex County Narcotics Bureau moved in and used the building until a judge ordered the evacuation of the building due to deteriorating structural conditions.

In 1991, scenes for Spike Lee's film Malcolm X were shot at the jail and at the same year Essex County Jail was added to the National Register of Historic Places. However, the lack of maintenance and a fire in 2001 have caused a part of the jail to collapse. There were plans for a new science park to be built at the site after the remaining parts of the jail will be demolished, however the the city has rejected the plans and seeks to have the jail restored. Today it is the oldest surviving government building in Essex county. 

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Will Ellis/abandonednyc.com

Will Ellis/abandonednyc.com

Will Ellis/abandonednyc.com

Will Ellis/abandonednyc.com

Will Ellis/abandonednyc.com

Fort Jefferson: An abandoned island fortress off Florida

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In the lower Florida Keys, within the Dry Tortugas National Park there's an unfinished and abandoned island fortress, which is the largest masonry structure in the Americas. Fort Jefferson was built by the U.S. Army in 1846 to assist in the fight against piracy in the Caribbean Sea. 

The design called for a four-tiered six-sided 1000 heavy-gun fort, with two sides measuring 415 feet (126 meters), and four sides measuring 564 feet (172 meters). On the parade ground inside the fort's massive brick walls there were living quarters for soldiers and officers, gunpowder magazines, storehouses, and other buildings required to maintain the fort. An important part of the construction was carried out by slaves. 

Fort Jefferson's peak military population was 1,729. To support such a large population in an area lacking fresh water (hence the name 'Dry Tortugas'), an innovative system of cisterns was built into the walls of the fort. However, the system was never used in practice, cracks were created in the cisterns due to the enormous weight of the outer walls, allowing seawater to contaminate the fresh water supply. 

During the Civil War, with construction still under way, Fort Jefferson was used as a prison for deserters. In 1867, a Yellow Fever epidemic killed many prisoners. By 1888 the Army turned the fort over to the Marine Hospital Service to be operated as a quarantine station as the cost of maintaining it due to the effects of frequent hurricanes and tropical climate could no longer be justified. 

On January 4, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who visited the area by ship, designated the area as a National Monument, while in 1992 the Dry Tortugas, including Fort Jefferson, was established as a National Park. Today, tourists can reach the island by ferry or by chartered seaplanes and private yachts and tour the abandoned Fort Jefferson. 

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Ron Yeany/flickr.com

Ron Yeany/flickr.com

John Park/flickr.com

Florida Memory/flickr.com

Alan Cressler/flickr.com

The abandoned 'Model Prison' of Cuba

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Built by dictator Gerardo Machado in the Isla de la Juventud, 'Presidio Modelo', the Model Prison was where everyone who went to jail for more than 180 days in Cuba was sent. It opened in 1936 but it's construction began a decade earlier. The prison was a replica of Joliet prison in Illinois. Until today, 'Presidio Modelo' is known as the ideal design of a 'panopticon' prison. The cells are built at the edge of a circular building and a tower in the middle allows the watchmen to observe all cells from the same position while the inmates can't know when they're being watched. 

Fidel Castro and his brother Raul were also imprisoned there for perpetrating the attack at Moncada Barracks which started the Cuban Revolution. After Castro's triumph in 1959, Presidio Modelo was used to jail political dissidents, counter-revolutionaries, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and anyone else considered an enemy of the Socialist Cuban state. By 1961, due to the overcrowded conditions (6,000 to 8,000 political prisoners at one time), it was the site of various riots and hunger strikes. 

The prison was closed by the government in 1967. Today Presidio Modelo serves as a museum national monument and is visited by Cubans and foreign tourists. 


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Friman/Wikimedia Commons

Jason Florio

Jason Florio

Jason Florio

Friman/Wikimedia Commons