The cells, empty corridors, exercise yards and children's reform school of this hulking former prison within the fortress are haunting, particularly if you've seen Midnight Express, Alan Parker's frightening 1978 film about an American drug dealer trapped in the Turkish penal system. Founded in 1887, it `did time' as a prison until 1997 when inmates were moved to a more modern facility nearby. Many notable Turkish writers were imprisoned here; it remains very much alive in Turkish collective memory.
