Prison where renowned Colombian drug lord was held to become Benedictine monastery

Bogotá, Colombia, Jul 17, 2007 / 09:17 am

An old prison in Colombia near the city of Medellin, where the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar was once held in 1992, will soon be converted into a monastery and pilgrimage center.

“The Cathedral,” as it was ironically called at the time Escobar was a prisoner there, has been entrusted to the Benedictine monks through the efforts of Father Gabriel de Jesus Jaramillo.

Father Jaramillo said he hoped the plan would “remove the stigma that the area has as a center of drug trafficking and violence and transform it into a place of pilgrimage and prayer.”