BBC NEWS | Photo journal: Inside a Bolivian jail, ‘Luxury’ cells — Fascinating look inside a Bolivian Jail. Kind of what Australia must have been like as the brits just kept sending people in. Let the prisoners run the place, they do anyway!
“If you have money you can live like a king,” an inmate told me. Money can buy you accommodation in the “posh” sections of the prison – one of the best is Los Pinos. Here, cells are spacious and have private bathrooms, kitchen and cable TV. Outside, they have billiard tables, kiosks selling fresh juice, and food stalls. Cells cost between $1,000 and $1,500 and are bought for the duration of an inmate’s sentence.
In the poor areas of the prison, inmates have to share small cells.
Imagine a tough and dangerous men’s prison full of violence, drugs and corruption that is also home to families of women and children. A place where cells, some with cable television, kitchens and private bathrooms, are bought and sold, complete with title deeds, and the real estate market has bubbles, just like on the outside. A place where backpackers pay to go on tours, guided by inmates. A place where the police rarely venture, except to collect bribes. A place with its own strict set of rules and regulations, where prisoners elect their own leaders, who enforce the law in the only way they know how, violently. A society that lives and dies by the cocaine economy. A vibrant collection of small businesses flourishes – photographic studios, restaurants, messenger services, market stalls, copying shops, shoeshine boys, and grocery stores.
This is San Pedro prison in La Paz, Bolivia, a strange microcosm of Bolivia itself, fuelled – like the society at large – by drugs, corruption, and a strong sense of family honour.
found by Meetsy
I’m sure most prisoners would love to pay for private bathrooms with showers… Perhaps you could make prisons profitable?!
A very different take on penal policy then most of the western world. Or, maybe all of the western world. This is what happens when you remove the civil from society.
Is anyone really all the surprised at this situation?
There is a book about this prison which is an incredible read “Marching Powder” by Rusty Young one of the best reads this year!
I once saw a documentary of a prison in Colombia and it was also run by the prisoners, except for the gate. They had restaurants a bakery etc. they even had their own “prison” in a hallway, for people who behaved badly. The poor ones had to sleep outside in a box, one of the most amazing reports I’ve ever seen.
We blame it on a criminal mindset. They merely prefer an alternate universe (lifestyle).