Based on the true story of Cobia. Isle Cobia was a Prison Island established in 1919. The island housed over 3,00 inmates and was punishment for Panama ’s most dangerous criminals (or for those who angered the wrong people) until Panama’s military dictatorship ended when Manuel Noriega was overthrown. Those sent to Cobia were known as “Los Desaparecidos” or “The Disappeared.” Unlike most prisons, where prisoners are held behind walls, prisoners in Cobia were scattered through out the island in make shift camps, creating shelter from natural surroundings. The guards were the one’s who stayed in small fortresses in the Northern region of the island, protected from the island’s inhabitants. Prisoner’s who’d like to escape were deterred by the sharks and crocodiles in the island’s waters - only 3 groups are ever recorded to attempt escape. The prison began closing in 1990, but the last convict was not released until 2005. For some Prisoners, Cobia was a death sentence. It took grit to survive. If the island’s natural conditions didn’t kill you, your fellow prisoner’s might.

The Disappeared, based on true events, follows the people who disappeared from society after committing a horrible crime or becoming a threatening political opposer. The prisoners survived and even thrived on one of the most brutal prison island’s known to date. Our story branches off with the fictionalized Anthony family, briefly vacationing in Panama when they were captured. Arriving in Coiba, they are set to be wrongfully imprisoned for life, without a trial, for their father publicly opposing the dictator on social media. The family is separated and individually has to survive these inhumane conditions. Their story is based on some of the prisoner’s in Cobia, who although imprisoned for opposing the dictator, were not released after he was over thrown. Instead they start removing the guards from the island.

CHARACTERS

Episode one starts with the Anthony family frantically trying to get out of their hotel. They are captured by Panamanian police officers at the airport and shipped to Isla Cobia. We don’t realize what’s happening yet, all we know is that the family is just as confused as we are. The children look through a window on a boat and see a beautiful island, they’re amazed. Upon arrival everyone is put into chains. It’s immediately clear this is not a vacation and the likelihood of them getting out alive is slim. The children are thrown into different prison camps. The prison camps are disorganized, murderers, rapists, thieves, one women’s camp, and then a few political opposers mixed alongside all types of prisoners. We quickly learn there is a similar food chain with the prison guards. Giovani is new and has sympathy for some of the prisoners. He confronts Xaiver but is reminded that there are no files on the Anthony’s and therefor they don’t exist and are not subject to the laws concerning prisoners. Giovani then starts to look into why his squad was sent to the prison in the first place. Angry over Xaiver’s lack of submission he puts Raine and some of the women up for Fight Night. We learn more about the island from visiting the different family members camps- with 80% of the island never explored, the environment might be more deadly then the prisoners. When it rains, as the water filters down some native trees produces an acid that will burn you if you are standing underneath. Animals that were brought for the prisoner’s to be able to sustain themselves, have bred with natural inhabitants and created odd mutants, bats the size of cats, etc. As well as ghost that haunt the prisoners and prison guards alike. Everything on the island wants to kill you. Then news hits the island that the dictator Manuel Noriega has been captured and overthrown. Raine is ecstatic and Xaiver calls some higher up in the government to tell him Americans are being held in Coiba. A representative comes and tells Raine that America is not interested in getting her or her family out. Instead the Panamanian government has decided to start removing the guards in hopes eventually the prisoners will just die off. As the gangs start to take more control of the island, there are rumors of people who escaped by venturing further into the island.

Tone is Prison Break meets Lost