TRANSCRIPT: Come inside the craziest prison in the world

MELISSA DOYLE: It's the strangest prison on earth - an overcrowded penitentiary in the heart of a South American city where the prisoners run the show. Inside Bolivia's San Pedro Prison, there are no guards and a hardcore population of violent and dangerous criminals, many of whom live with their wives and kids. There are drug factories and a brutal code of justice, and there are restaurants, schools, barber shops and, believe it or not, even a booming real estate trade.15 years ago, Australian author Rusty Young went undercover in this complex community to expose the corruption and violence. Now Rusty returns
to take Denham Hitchcock inside the jail they can't shut down.

RUSTY YOUNG: This is an incredible city. I mean, it's one of the highest cities in the world. It's 3,600 metres above sea level.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's been 12 years since Rusty Young was in Bolivia.

RUSTY YOUNG: I've got a lot of good memories here. I mean, this is obviously the point... this is the city and the point where my life changed.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: He's giving us a tour of La Paz, the city that sits in the peaks of the Andes.

RUSTY YOUNG: The funny thing about La Paz is that the wealthy people live down in the bottom of the bowl and the poorer people live in the slums up in the mountains with what we could consider to be million-dollar views.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's unique for many reasons, but the main one is this - San Pedro Prison.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: This is really like a city within a city. It's extraordinary.

RUSTY YOUNG: Yeah. We're looking over the rooftop here of San Pedro Prison.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Like any jail, cameras are not welcome. We are shooting from inside a hotel room across the street.

RUSTY YOUNG: And it's really reminiscent of any shantytown in South America, the only difference being, of course, the 15-metre-high walls all the way around. But the prison occupies an entire block in the dead centre of La Paz. So, it's quite surreal that a prison would be in the middle of a city.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Yeah. It doesn't really seem like a prison at all.

RUSTY YOUNG: Not at all. And during the day, it's quite peaceful. But it's at night-time that the prison really becomes a lot more dangerous.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Dangerous because the prison is run by the inmates. Prison rules, prison justice.

RUSTY YOUNG: There are no guards inside the prison at all. The prisoners have completely free rein inside.

(SHOUTING)

RUSTY YOUNG: They throw them in there and they beat them, drown them, electrocute them, stab them, and then just kick them until they're dead. The prison itself is awash with drugs.

(MEN LAUGH)

RUSTY YOUNG: Got some of the country's best cocaine cooks. Things can turn violent very quickly.

RUSTY YOUNG: My name's Rusty Young. I'm 28 years old. And I was travelling through Bolivia on a backpacking holiday when I heard about San Pedro Prison.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Back in 2000, Rusty bribed his way into the prison.

MAN: I would say the only place in the world where you can find so much humanity and yet so much danger at the same time.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: So amazed by what he saw, Rusty lived inside San Pedro for four months to write a book. The book, called Marching Powder, was a bestseller, but it exposed the prison and the children, the corruption, the drugs, and he had to flee Bolivia. Rusty has enemies.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: So, we're planning for you to step back inside those walls.

RUSTY YOUNG: I'm a little bit nervous that someone might want to take some kind of revenge, but I'm also excited, because, I mean, it's been a while since I've been inside there, and it'll be interesting to see how it's changed. If I was in there on my own, I would be very, very scared.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: We plan to enter San Pedro Prison with a pocket-sized camera. Helping us is Martin, who knows
the guards at the front gate.

MARTIN: OK. I have to go up first, and then I'll come back down.

(SIREN WAILS)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: A second camera team will secretly shoot through the hotel window. We have no idea how the prisoners will react to us or to Rusty. His book could have made things better, but they could also be worse. Rusty wants to find out, but he knows once we pass through these gates, the guards can't help us.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: This way?

(MAN SPEAKS SPANISH)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Follow them? It's like being in an apartment complex, isn't it?

RUSTY YOUNG: In one of the other prisons in Bolivia last week, there was a massacre. Seven people were killed in one particular incident. So things can be... It seems pretty peaceful during the day, but things can turn very volatile very quickly inside here.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's been more than a decade, but Rusty is spotted within minutes.

(SPEAKS SPANISH)
JAMES: Hello, brother.

RUSTY YOUNG: Hey, James. How are you? You OK? I'm fine. Yeah, I'm good, man. How are you? Been a while.

JAMES: Yeah. I remember a long time.

RUSTY YOUNG: Yeah. (LAUGHS) How long ago do you think that was?

JAMES: Yesterday.

RUSTY YOUNG: 15 years. James was a relatively new inmate when I was there, and at that time, he was reasonably well-spoken, fit, healthy - he used to go to the gym - and he was a happy, friendly guy.

RUSTY YOUNG: Denham, this is James.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: James.

JAMES: Hello, brother.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Nice to meet you.

RUSTY YOUNG: 12 years later, he's obviously become addicted to cocaine and he...his speech is incoherent, he looks completely unhealthy and he's...it's just not the same person.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: News that Rusty is inside the jail is spreading and the inmates' reaction is unpredictable. So Martin guides him into a nearby cell where he can't be seen. In San Pedro, the locks are on the inside.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Let's be honest, it's a risk for you to come here.

RUSTY YOUNG: Absolutely, and I'm still a little bit nervous about being seen. You know, everyone knows about the book, and so I'm just worried about how the prisoners will take it, and then, if word gets back to the authorities that I'm in here, what they'll do - I mean, there could be repercussions.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: We'll leave you here and keep going, and we'll come back and get you.

RUSTY YOUNG: Sure.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: James and Martin then take us on a bizarre tour - the world of San Pedro Prison, the city within a city.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: One of the most remarkable things about this place is that entire families are living here. If the husband gets sentenced, he comes to prison, the family's on the outside without an income, so the family comes in. This place, um, is owned by Eric, and he has a wife and two children here. The children are 8 years old and 13 years old.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Does Eric worry about having his family in here?

TRANSLATOR: No, he's really happy to have his family here.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: So he thinks they're safer in here than they would be outside without him?

(SPEAKS SPANISH)

(ERIC REPLIES)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Not only are entire families here, but if you want a place to call your own, just like in the real world, you have to buy it.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: And how much does he pay for this place?

JAMES: 8,400.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: 8,400 US dollars?

JAMES: US dollar, yeah.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: And he owns it?

JAMES: He owns it.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: OK, so, when he leaves, he will sell this place?

JAMES: That's correct.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Like property? Like real estate - in a prison?

JAMES: In a prison.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: (LAUGHS) OK.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: I can't believe I'm saying this, but there are sections in the prison just like a hotel. From one-star to five-star.

RUSTY YOUNG: That's right. There are eight different sections inside the prison.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Maybe be careful with the, um... out this one, yep.

RUSTY YOUNG: Everyone has to buy their own prison cell, and they're obviously of varying quality, so depending on how much money you have, that will determine which particular section you go into. So, they're almost like small suburbs. And the inmates have invented a rating system - so, you have anything from zero stars up to five and a half stars, where the really rich drug traffickers and politicians live.

(KEYS JANGLE)

RUSTY YOUNG: There are people who have died of exposure just because they couldn't afford a prison cell.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Literally died in the corridors?

RUSTY YOUNG: Literally died in the corridors.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: One of the sad things about this place is that it was built to house 250 people. There are now more than 3,000. If you've got money, you're in an apartment, but if you don't, you're on the concrete.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: In here, it all comes down...

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's like a newsagent. Hola.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: To one thing.

(SPEAKS SPANISH)

MAN: Dos.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Dos.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: … Money.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: OK. I am buying food... .inside the prison. There are shops all the way through here.

RUSTY YOUNG: The government does provide watery soup, and... but basically, often the money goes missing, so the actual quality of the food and the amount of nutrition in the soup is so poor that the inmates decide to feed themselves.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: If you're in here as a prisoner, you get one meal a day, but if you don't like the prison food, you can go to the restaurants! There's dozens of them.

RUSTY YOUNG: Once prisoners go into the prison, they need to support themselves financially. There are messengers earning one or two bolivianos in order to call visitors to the gate. There are people shining shoes. There are cooks. There are people doing woodworks.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's beautiful. Bueno.

RUSTY YOUNG: There's a dentist in there. A doctor in there, who'd been imprisoned for stabbing his wife 52 times. I didn't want to go and get any antibiotic injections from him! Everyone in San Pedro has to have some kind of job.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Forget everything you know about prisons. This system, as inconceivable as it is, has been endorsed by the government. The cost may have something to do with it. The inmates look after themselves, so it's cheap to run.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: One of the things that amazes me the most is the amount of children here.

MARTIN: Yeah.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: They're everywhere.

MARTIN: Yeah. When you get a father and a mother, and quite often they put both of them in jail at the same time, who looks after the kids?

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Yeah.

MARTIN: And they're safer here, much safer here, than on the streets on their own, you know, fending for themselves. So, it's a big debate. They should really have hostels.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Ooh.

(CHILDREN CHATTER)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: So many kids.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Is it right that there are children inside a prison?

RUSTY YOUNG: One of the sections, there's a well, and they fill it with water and they just throw them in there and they beat them, drown them, electrocute them, stab them.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Need to get Rusty out. Si. Got to go.

MAN: This is the way out, is it?

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: I've got no idea. You OK?

RUSTY YOUNG: This is not a place for little children.

(MEN SHOUT)

INSIDE SAN PEDRO PART TWO

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: This is, quite simply, an extraordinary place. There are no guards here. This place is run by the inmates.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: No guards means no protection, and we are on a tour like no other.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Ooh.

(CHILDREN CHATTER)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: So many kids.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Is it right that there are children inside a prison?

DAN MORIARTY: No and yes. (CHUCKLES)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Dan Moriarty worked in San Pedro as a missionary for five years. He heard their confessions, provided comfort. He knew the inmates better than anyone.

DAN MORIARTY: The inmates are overwhelmingly from impoverished backgrounds. The kids are seeing nothing in the prison that they don't see in the neighbourhoods they came from. Having both the children be near their parents and the parents continue to nurture and care for their children, I think is the best thing for both of them.

RUSTY YOUNG: There is a dark side to it, and particularly in the poorer sections, when they take drugs at night-time. This is not a place for little children.

(SNORTS)

MAN: Like, I do drugs in prison to kill time.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: How big an issue is cocaine in San Pedro?

DAN MORIARTY: It's a huge issue...for two reasons. It's the reason most people are there, and then it's readily available inside.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: This is one of the paradoxes of this place. 80% of the people that are in here, they're in here for drug offences. Got to be careful about, uh... who's listening. But even so, this place at times has produced a LOT of cocaine from INSIDE the prison.

RUSTY YOUNG: You've got some of the country's best cocaine cooks living inside there. You've got people who export cocaine. So, pretty much all they talk about and all... (CHUCKLES) all that they know is drug trafficking. So, that's one of the main industries inside the prison.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: How is it that drugs are allowed inside that prison?

RUSTY YOUNG: Look, I mean, let's be honest, there are drugs in every prison around the world and the guards are usually complicit in allowing them in, but in this case, it's absolutely rampant. You know, in all the sections, you can buy drugs very, very cheaply - cheaper than on the outside. When you have people not sleeping and strung out on cocaine base for three or four days, drinking, things can turn violent very quickly.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Drugs are in most cases the first problem and the last. Prison guards are at the gate and on the walls but not on the inside, so the inmates determine the punishment - and it can be severe. It takes place in a small pool called The Well.

RUSTY YOUNG: The greatest violence is perpetrated against sex offenders. Rapists and child molesters who are brought in are not segregated from the main population.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: For this community to function, the innocent must be protected. As a warning, rapists and
pedophiles are beaten on arrival. There is no second chance.

RUSTY YOUNG: A big lynch mob forms. They carry them through the corridors. And in one of the sections, there's a sort of a well, and they fill it with water and they just throw them in there and they beat them, drown them, electrocute them, stab them, and then just kick them until they're dead.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: This prison code is uncompromising, but it's not perfect.

RUSTY YOUNG: The children are sometimes in actual physical danger. There have been a number of cases of young girls - one girl who was six who was raped and killed inside the prison when the mother was off partying, and only two years ago, a 12-year-old girl was found to be pregnant.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: It's a strange sight. While we are there, children return from school, flooding the corridors of the jail. Women and children can come and go as they please. As light begins to fade, we are told our visit... has some of the inmates agitated.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: We need to go?

JAMES: Uh-huh.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: OK. We're good. We're following you.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Both James and Martin insist we need to leave immediately.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Si. Got to go. We're coming up here first. Yeah. I think that's what we're doing.

(LAUGHS)

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: You OK?

RUSTY YOUNG: Yeah, yeah, fine, man.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Got to get through the main courtyard yet.

(CHUCKLES)

RUSTY YOUNG: This is how it works here.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Rusty's a little worried about... who's seen him.

MAN: This is the way out, is it?

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: I've got no idea.

DENHAM HITCHCOCK: Is this prison something that needs to be shut down?

RUSTY YOUNG: If it were better supervised, I would say that potentially it would be a very progressive prison model, but the way that it's executed at present, it's actually extremely damaging.

DAN MORIARTY: The dignity that the inmates are allowed by the freedom that they're given and the fact that they have their families with them, THAT is a model, for sure.

MELISSA DOYLE: Denham Hitchcock reporting. There's a charity that works in the prison to provide food and clothing for the children. To help, you can find a link on our website. Back in a moment.