San Lucas Island is located off the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica, 5.4 miles from Puntarenas, and has an area of less than 500 hectares.  This island is famous in Costa Rica because it used to be a prison, at first just for thieves and other petty crime offenders but later for more dangerous criminals.

The San Lucas prison functioned from 1873 to 1991 when it was permanently closed, what used to be the prison is not a Historical Center and the Island is now a Wildlife Refuge.

The history of the Island attracts many curious visitors who want to tour the old cells and listen to the stories and tales related to the jail some of these

stories are told by the graffiti’s on the different walls, one of which, The Girl in the Red Bikini, is said to have been painted with blood (this has not been proved). But this is not the only attraction in the Island; the place has 19 beaches, although only 4 are accessible for tourists; archaeological sites; and the Ministry of Environment and Energy has reintroduced some of the native fauna species to the place since some were lost in the past years due to hunting practices, white tail deer, wild boars and congo monkeys among others.

The San Lucas Jail was immortalized in a book by Costa Rican author and former prisoner Jose Leon Sanchez; Sanchez was locked up in San Lucas for 30 years accused of the robbery of the famous Basilica de Los Angeles in Cartago, a basilica built in honor of “Our Lady of the Angels”  patron of Costa Rica; this accusation earned him the nickname “The Monster of the Basilica”, Sanchez has always said he is not guilty of this robbery and was wrongfully accused. His story gave origin to the book “The Island of Lonely Men” originally published in 1968 and which has sold millions of copies and has been translated into 25 languages. In 1998 Sanchez was absolved of the crime by Costa Rica’s Supreme Court.  The book tells the stories of torture and the life in the San Lucas Jail.

If you want to visit the San Lucas Island, you have to take a two hour drive from Puntarenas , different tour services offer the boat  transportation to the Island which takes approximately 30 to 45 minutes.