2023-09-10 18:38:57
A prison in Bolivia has its own laws, with some inmates living with their families and a “court” to do “justice”.
The San Pedro penitentiary is the largest in the city of Peace, one of the capitals of Bolivia. It has around 3,000 inmates, and looks more like a poor neighborhood than a prison.
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Guards are few in San Pedro. Inside the prison there are also restaurants, barbershops, classrooms, several other small businesses and churches.
San Pedro looks like a neighborhood | Photo: Playback/YouTube
Some families have been granted permission to live with inmates for security reasons: they are believed to be safer in San Pedro. The cells in this Bolivian penitentiary are also not locked, and have been turned into bedrooms. Just like hotels, rooms are rated between 0 and 5 stars.
The rating is used for selling and rent of cells. If a prisoner is unable to buy or rent a room, he may become “homeless”. This is a problem, as temperatures in the city drop dramatically in winter, which can trigger hypothermia. La Paz is at an altitude of 3,625 meters.
Functioning as a walled city, San Pedro has inmates who live off crafts sold to visitors. With the high flow of people, the penitentiary also has motorcycle taxi drivers.
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The division of labor includes inmates who are cooks, street cleaners, carpenters, laundry service assistants and shoe shiners. Furthermore, prostitutes also have access to this Bolivian penitentiary.
The code of ethics of Saint Peter It has zero tolerance for child rapists. The punishment for these criminals can come from stabbing, electric shock or beating to death. There is also a “supreme court” that uses a pool in which prisoners drown, condemned by the system, which profits from the drug traffickingaccording to the newspaper Extra.
The prison gained worldwide attention after the publication of Rusty Young’s book, Marching Powderwhich tells the story of an English drug dealer who serves time there.
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