Even Greener Pastures

It´s hard to compare 3rd world prisons to those in the US, but US prisons are not much better. Different, but not necessarily in a more humane way.

I`ve watched several German YouTube videos under a series called „Hinter fremden Gittern“, behind foreign bars, which deals with German nationals who are imprisoned in Latin American jails, normally over drug smuggling offenses. Often the guys were set up, offered something like 10,000€ in Germany to fly to say Lima, Peru, to pick up drugs to smuggle. They were to be paid the money when they get back. The airfare is paid for in advance, as well as like 2 nights in a cheap Lima hotel. Then, of course, the smugglers get caught at the airport in Lima trying to get back.

This is frequently done as a cover for real smugglers to make it easier for them to get through. So the guys getting caught were just decoys (I thought there was an English word for this, but I can`t seem to think of one at the moment. There might not be one. If anyone knows, let me know. I thought it might be „patsy“, but the German translation doesn`t seem to fit. It just matches the English Webster’s definition). Sending the guys in to get caught as a cover for the real smugglers is what I`d call in German a „Ablenkungsmanöver“ or a diversionary tactic. That seems to be the only word that fits.

But, the series shows the conditions of 3rd world prisons. There was a segment on 5 or 6 German guys in a prison in Lima serving a various number of years, from like 4-10, but they were lucky in that they were housed separatedly from the local Peruvians, who had it worse off. The food was pretty awful, and the overcrowding was pretty terrible- like a prison built for 750 housing 2500?

It´s an apples and oranges comparison, but in some ways the Peruvian prisons were better, in some ways worse than the US ones. Like in the Peruvian prisons there was virtually no medical care (except for a really ridiculous little clinic), where in the US there is some semblance of some medical care, even if it is poor. And the Peruvian food looked deadly, where in the US, it might not be good, but it is not likely deadly. The positives about the Peruvian system was the prisoners got to wear their street clothes, so there was no sense of perpetual humiliation, and the guards didn`t abuse them. They just demanded bribes for everything (better food, a bed, etc). In the US, many of the guards are just sadists.(see Neal`s Riker`s Island article.)

Plus, in the Peruvian prisons, the prisoners are allowed to just wonder around the prison all day. They`re just locked up at night. This may increase the risk that they harm one another, but at least they don`t spend 23 hours a day in a cell. That seems more humane to me, to be allowed to wonder around all day. They were also allowed to earn a tiny bit of money by working in woodworking shops.

Plus, in Peru they had weekly conjugal visits, or entire family visits, where the families would show up with little kids and bring the inmates food and supplies. That doesn`t happen in US prisons. And, there was always a long line of prostitutes at the Peruvian prison to pay visits to the inmates. It was technically not allowed but all it took was 50 cents to pay a guard to look away. Again, that doesn't happen in the US.