Jailbirds

Another interesting article on the workings of the Former Democratic Republic of Pavón .

"Halfway down the main avenue, through a blue door, was the telephone centre with 14 outside lines and booths for privacy. Seven stores further down, past the video arcade where you could play a game shooting up police officers, was the internet cafe with high-speed access. A bookshop across the way offered religious titles as well as an academic tome, La Tortura, with insights on mental and physical abuse. For lunch you could sit down in the local pizza restaurant or, if you were in a rush, grab a burger and beer from one of the stalls...

"Inmates with money had access to plush homes, restaurants, spa baths, prostitutes, cocaine and internet access, all contained within the wire-fence perimeter. Those of modest means were condemned to squalid dormitories and indentured labour at crack and cocaine laboratories, as well as cannabis operations...Some inmates were forced to hand over wives and daughters to the committee as concubines,...farming meant milking fellow inmates for every privilege: $US1.30 ($1.75) for a spouse to visit, $US5 for a phone call, more for electricity and medical attention. The fees generated an estimated $US20,000 a month."