The first and last jail I hope to be in
Trip Start
Mar 09, 2007
1
143
169
Trip End
??? ??, 2008
La Paz,
Bolivia
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Well the past few days have been catch up with pics, blog, laundry, and general backpack-house-keeping. The other experience worthy of note is my visit to the San Pedro Jail in La Paz.
Don't worry I didn't get thrown into jail, we went to visit it. San Pedro Jail is main jail in La Paz and it actually sits in the downtown area, oddly enough right on a huge plaza. Let me start by saying this isn't your typical jail. There are no cells, but there are rooms. There are no guards on the inside, but they are on the outside. Inside the inmates roam around freely. Whole families live inside. Inside there are restaurants, hairdressers, and shops. It is its own closed off economy (well almost, I will explain further below).
The jail is separated in two parts, one called 'population' and the other is the luxurious part. We were only allowed into the luxurious part. There are about 1500 inmates in total here. The luxury side has about 150 of the inmates plus their families, totally around 400 people (we were told). Technically tourists aren't allowed to visit anymore due to drug manufacturing inside the jail that then gets sold to the outside. Getting in can be solved by putting a bit of cash in the right hand. Four of us went. We walked up, said we wanted to visit Angelo, a Dutch guy inside. We waited in this hallway that opened up to the inmates courtyard. The only thing separating us from them was a set of iron bars. After handing over our passports and getting patted down, they cracked open the lock to the bars, opened the gate, and we walked into the courtyard with the inmates, leaving all the guards and guns on the other side of the bars. By the way, no cameras are allowed, so I have no pictures of this.
This would normally be a pretty intimidating situation, but on the other side of the bars its actually quite a civilized world. This side of the jail is basically a courtyard with some small restaurants and shops (food and basic stuff) and then lined around the outside are the rooms. Laundry hanging off of clothes lines and railings. People were chilling in the courtyard, chatting and goofing around. Kids running around. Women walking around looking busy. I never would have guessed that I am inside a jail, especially in downtown La Paz.
We talked to Angelo for a bit and then learned that there was a Canadian inside (no Americans or Swiss were locked up). He was a friend of Angelos, so Angelo walked us up to him. We walked up to the 2nd floor, entered a hallway, then walked up two narrow stairs (more almost like ladders) and some other narrow hallways and got to Don McDonalds room.
We walked in on him smoking crack. I shit you not. On the floor are all kinds of pipes, dishes, spoons and contraptions for smoking crack. Don was not shy about his habit and spoke of it freely, and honestly. He smokes on average about 25 grams of crack a day. He says there isn't much to do, so he sits in his room and smokes crack all day.
Despite Don being a crack addict, he seems like a fairly well adjusted and normal person (I have never met a crack addict before) and actually had quite an interesting story. Here is his story.
He is 51 years old and used to be a railroad worker in Canada. He started dating a girl that was a crack addict, he became one, then he started dealing. Two years after he started his habit, he retired so that he could come down to Bolivia. Why did he come down to Bolivia? To get the cheapest and best crack. He had enough money to retire to Bolivia and smoke crack till his money ran out. Was down here for a couple of months, smoking crack and dating a Norwegian girl (also hooked on crack). Met some guy, two days later they went in on a 100gram crack deal. The guy proceeded to rape Don's girlfriend, and then turned him into the Police. Don had already smoked 12 grams of his half of the crack before the police showed up the next morning, he got caught with 38grams. The police also took the other dude to jail too.
Don was thrown into the 'population' part of San Pedro. No tourists on that side. Apparently the population side is an utter mess and pretty rough. Don spent a week in 'population' before a South African guy on the luxury side found out there was a tourist over there and got Don out. The price to move from population to the luxury side is a one time fee of 300 USD. Don has now been there for about 6 months. He hasn't been sentenced yet.
We talked to Don for a good portion of the time and learned alot about how things work inside the jail. He says you can bribe to get out of jail, but it depends on what you are in for. He says there is a guy in there who got caught with several tons of cocaine. Probably not cheap for him to get out. There are also, rapists (one lives two doors down from him), child molesters, killers, drug traffickers, and former cops. Can you imagine kids and women wandering around a jail where there are child molesters and rapists roaming around freely?! WTF If you father is in jail there, the whole family can move in and live together. The women and and children can come and go freely from the jail. There are no guards inside the jail, everything inside is a free-for-all and is self regulated. Stealing is apparently a huge problem.
Once on the luxury side, life isn't so bad, but you need money. You have to pay for your room and food. Owning, renting and selling apartments is actually a business. Some people cook food for money, others due laundry, others sell drugs. The reason tourists are no longer allowed into the San Pedro jail is because this is the place to get the best and cheapest cocaine and crack. They make it here in the jail, on the population side. Drug abuse inside the jail is rampant, probably because there is nothing to do and its so easy to get. Don said he goes to the wall that separates us from the population side, speaks to a runner on the other side through a hole in the wall. Through the hole, he 'orders' what he wants and then passes money through the hole. 5 minutes later, through the same whole his drugs and change get passed to him. To top it off, he says they pass you a receipt itemizing what you ordered and how much it all cost! WTF?! He said he could go get us anything we want, did we want any crack? We said no and thanked him for the offer.
Don has money, so he doesn't need to work. He is thinking about buying some apartments and renting them out. The costs to buy vary, couple hundred to over a thousand dollars. Rent also varies, average about 10USD a month. Money here just changes hands. How does Don get his money? His ATM card. He isn't allowed to leave the jail, but he has a trusted friend that he gives his ATM card to, has them take out money for him and bring it all to the jail. Not really sure who his trusted friend is. There is an inmate that is a lawyer and is the only inmate that is allowed to leave the jail. He represents inmates some of the inmates.
He has apparently had several people try to get to the guy that ratted him out, who is in another jail. So far no success he says. Crazy. Although he says he can afford to bribe his way out, he thought it would be good for him to stay for a while. He says it will do him some good. I honestly think he has just found a comfortable spot that he can do crack for cheap and not have to be worried about getting caught since he is already in jail.
Don then walked us back down to the courtyard and excused himself, he said he wanted to go smoke some crack. We thanked him for his time and his info and wished him luck. Emilie handed him 100 Bolivianos (about 12 USD). He said he couldn't except it and that he would spend it on crack anyways. Wow, at least he is honest. We found Angelo and walked around with him a bit more.
In the end we had to bribe the guards 50 Bolivianos per person to get in. We were inside for a bit more than an hour. I have never seen anything like that and honestly could not believe that we were amongst killers, drug traffickers, all these other crazy people, families and kids, with drugs and crack pipes. I felt safe, but honestly I felt slightly uncomfortable the whole time and a bit on edge. Even though life inside seemed to be much more like the real world than most jails, I was so relieved to be back outside in the actual real world. Fascinating experience and very eye opening.
If you get the chance, definitely go check out the San Pedro jail. You have to go to the side entrance, not the main entrance. I have also heard that you can go to your embassy to see if any of your nationals are in the jail there and if they are, you can get a written ordinance that lets you in with out having to bribe. I haven't met anyone that has done it through that method, but worth a try.
