accept bribes or die. There are 40,500 living in a system designed to hold 28,332. The ability of rich inmates to bribe officials allows them to live well. For common criminals, overcrowding and lawlessness barely allow them to survive. This harsh double standard is found across Latin America, where most countries suffer from pervasive corruption. In Bogota's El Modelo prison authorities recently discovered that drug lords have been making calls to countries from Nigeria to the United States. US Embassy sources have long alleged that Cali drug cartel bosses continue to direct drug smuggling from behind bars. Politicians don't find jail to rough either. Fernando Botero, President Ernesto Samper Pisano's former defense minister went to jail last year for admitting knowledge of a $6 million contribution to Mr. Samper's campaign from the Cali cartel. Samper was cleared by Congress of any knowledge of the drug money. Mr. Botero is under what amounts to a comfortable house-arrest in Bogota's military academy. Columbia has a notorious history of luxury jails for powerful criminals and Mexico is gaining the same reputation. In Mexico the prisons are self-governed by the prisoners. The prison officials rely on gangs within the prison for enforcement. The leaders of the gangs are rewarded. They have their own rooms or several rooms, order meals from fancy restaurants, and, sometime, have girlfriends living in prison with them. Criminals with money and influence easily avoid doing time in the overcrowded prisons with inhumane conditions. Politics as well as corruption can cause the double standard. Peru's jails stand out also. Punishment for terrorism and treason, a charge which is very loosely defined in Peru, requires the convicted person to spend his first year in solitary confinement. Then adult family members may visit once a month for 30 minutes. Children may visit for a half an hour every th...
