India Uncut
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Friday, September 01, 2006
Society in the making
Lakshmi writes in to point me to a photo essay by Rafael Estefania about San Pedro Prison in La Paz, Bolivia. I found it fascinating how a world is shaping itself inside the prison that is entirely removed from the one outside its walls. Take this excerpt, for example:
The police do not go inside or interfere in any way.And also this:
According to prison figures, there are about four deaths a month from both natural causes and "accidents".
Prisoners are expected to resolve their own problems through section representatives elected democratically. [Link.]
The mural reads: Welcome to the football pitch... Freedom and justice for everyone. [...]Yes, yes, it can't be much fun being on the inside unless you can take care of yourself. But as a study of how order evolves within a society, it would be quite interesting. There's a book in there, though being in India and not Bolivia, I'm not going to be the one writing it. Someone should.
"It is the same as outside - if you are good, you can make more money with your feet than with your brain," an inmate jokes. [Link.]
