Gorgona is a prison island off the coast of southwestern Colombia. The island was a haven for pirates, then a private property.
The Colombian State appropriated the island in the 1960s to build a high-security prison. 1,000 prisoners arrived, few came out alive. The most feared punishment was that of the "cylinder" : a hole 80 cm wide where the prisoner was forced to stand for days without moving, submerged up to the neck in rainwater mixed with excrement.