1008 law. Bolivian Prisions
San Pedro prison in La Paz is home to about 1,500 inmates. Few of the inmates here are convicted killers - 80% of them are here for drug-related offences (law 1008). Only about 25% of all prisoners are actually serving a sentence - the rest are awaiting trial.There is an overpopulation in this prison where health conditions are not the best. About 200 children live in the San Pedro prison with their fathers.
There are almost no guards, no uniforms or metal bars on the cell windows. This relative freedom comes at a price: inmates have to pay for their cells.Once you pass the thick walls and the security gates, any resemblance to a normal jail disappears: there are children playing, market stalls, restaurants, hairdressers and even a hotel. It looks more like the streets of El Alto, Bolivia's poorest neighbourhood that sprawls on the outskirts of La Paz, than a prison.
Pictures taken at Penal de San Pedro, Penal de Chonchocoro y Penal de Miraflores.
1008 Prosecution
The law 1008 refers to the coca regime and controlled substances. It was approved in 1988 during the government of Paz Estensoro but the studies that supported this controversial law are no longer valid.
The current Bolivian government of Evo Morales is trying to modify some of its articles so as to change the negative view that stands that coca leaf is harmful for the health in its natural state. However, it is strongly engaged to fight against drug production and traffic.
Meanwhile the controversial coca plant and its derivates are present in the daily life of many Bolivians.
