A darkly comic, sometimes shocking account of life in the world's most bizarre prison
When Thomas McFadden was arrested trying to smuggle five kilos of cocaine out of Bolivia, he was flung into the infamous San Pedro prison - the strangest penitentiary system in the world. A bemused Englishman abroad, Thomas was astonished to discover that corrupt politicians and major-league drug smugglers lived in luxury apartments in one wing while the poorer sections of the prison were too dangerous to enter after dark. Prisoners had to pay for everything: their cells, their food and their clothing, not to mention the many bribes required by the police. To survive in San Pedro you needed an income - and so prisoners turned to the trade they knew best, manufacturing cocaine. Even the prison cat was addicted to crack.