Comments on: Escape from La Paz

Escape from La Paz

jonson — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:31:13 -0800

In the 1981 film Escape from New York, the entire island of Manhattan had been converted to a self-sufficient, walled off open air prison, devoid of guards & cells. The fiction of the film bears an alarming similarity to the reality of life in San Pedro Prison, a walled off, police-free convict slum in Bolivia's capital city, La Paz. This fascinating/horrifying experiment in criminal justice is the feature of a 2003 eponymous documentary; some of the details include the story of a drug kingpin, unhappy with his cell, who had a second story constructed to allow more breathing room; or the prison soccer team, sponsored by coca-cola, or even the non-prisoner children of the imprisoned, who roam the streets of San Pedro ("At least this way the parents live with their kids, and the family stays together. Outside, they'd have nowhere to live").

By: ®@

®@ — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:33:59 -0800

Wow, sounds like Hell.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:40:32 -0800

Wow indeed. Wow.

By: fungible

fungible — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:48:50 -0800

Fascinating, thanks.

By: caddis

caddis — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 21:52:09 -0800

Excellent post. This story has bee floating around for a few days and you have done a marvelous job of putting it together. Not all extra links are added for padding and have little to do with the main topic of the entry.

By: moonbird

moonbird — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:01:08 -0800

"You're the Duke of New York, you're A number 1!"

By: jonson

jonson — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:11:41 -0800

moonbird - that quote ALMOST made the title tag of this post, but I demurred, knowing someone would be kind enough to supply it within. ;-)

By: bob sarabia

bob sarabia — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:15:21 -0800

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:33:12 -0800

Amazing, great post.

By: ryoshu

ryoshu — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:47:54 -0800

Call me Wonko the Sane.

By: Staggering Jack

Staggering Jack — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 22:58:37 -0800

Really interesting, thanks for the post.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:22:31 -0800

Anyone else reminded of feral cities, and that place that used to be in China? I don't have links, maybe someone here knows what I'm talking about.

By: Potsy

Potsy — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:40:36 -0800

You mean the Kowloon Walled City? That wasn't a prison, just a shanty town in a disputed terriory.

By: sklero

sklero — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:43:55 -0800

Fascinating.

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Thu, 07 Sep 2006 23:54:25 -0800

I know it wasn't a prison, but the stories remind me of Kowloon. A similar smell of anarchy.

By: tbonicus

tbonicus — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 00:54:05 -0800

The book's website has some photos as well..

By: Mister Bijou

Mister Bijou — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 01:15:19 -0800

I know it wasn't a prison, but the stories remind me of Kowloon. A similar smell of anarchy. Depends what you meany by *anarchy*. Let me assure you, Kowloon Walled City may have been outside the remit of the then-colonial British administration, but its inhabitants for the most part lived orderly and ordinary lives, and there was little evidence of social breakdown. Sure there were brothels, gambling and drug dens, but those "unlawful" businesses existed in the lawful parts of Kowloon, too. They still do. Hey, you'll find such business ventures in most every city of any size on Plant Earth. The irony is that such businesses in Kowloon Walled City were *not* prey to corrupt police officers and other government officials as they were/are elsewhere in Kowloon. Hong Kong (of which Kowloon is a part) was/is one of the safest cities in the world. Feral cities? There's a fair few in the US. [ducks for cover]

By: TwelveTwo

TwelveTwo — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 03:15:05 -0800

I had come to a mistaken conclusion then.

By: Onanist

Onanist — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 04:30:21 -0800

There's a good book written by an young Aussie lawyer who went and lived in the prison for an extended period called Marching Powder. It's the story of a foreign inmate who ended up there for coke trafficking. He lived with the inmate who earnt his money to survive in there by taking travellers on tours of the prison - you could stay overnight if you wanted to! I think it even made it into a Lonely Planet guidebook and became a bit too popular. A friend of mine went and said the coke was really good in the prison!

By: footnote

footnote — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 06:07:15 -0800

Really interesting, thanks.

By: inigo2

inigo2 — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 07:00:42 -0800

To follow up on Onanist's comment, from the article: "Tourists used to be allowed in, but the tours were stopped because many people were coming to buy cocaine, said to be the purest in Bolivia."

By: StickyCarpet

StickyCarpet — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 07:10:30 -0800

In Providence Rhode Island in the 60s, when racial strife erupted the police simply barricaded off the black neighborhood and let it stew in its own juices.

By: supertremendus

supertremendus — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 09:53:11 -0800

That documentary sounds really interesting but I can't find mention of it anywhere on the internets. Anyone know where to find it?

By: owhydididoit

owhydididoit — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 11:37:35 -0800

Very cool post. thanks!

By: d-no

d-no — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 17:48:05 -0800

A friend of mine visited La Paz a few years before the book and the Foreign Correspondent story and brought back a great story and collection of photos. Apparently when tourists were allowed in (by bribing the guards) there were package tours on offer; a guided tour of the prison finished off with whatever substances you wanted. When the book came out she kept referring to it as 'the book about my prison'; I bet there are a bunch of travellers around the world regretting not writing that book. That documentary sounds really interesting but I can't find mention of it anywhere on the internets. Anyone know where to find it? It wasn't a doco as such. Foreign Correspondent is a weekly show on the aussie ABC. The site linked in the post has a link to tape sales.