MotorCity
Look, LatinoRican gave you the best on site "visitor's" view of la Victoria Jail in this thread.(watch out for speed traps in Villa Mella which are used by local police to extort money from jail visitors. You must pass their stop area to get out of town) I have posted many articles related to jails in DR. Maybe Rob can help you search for these. I know a great deal about jails in DR. I still keep in contact with many friends who are in Najayo Jail and La Victoria. Anybody in DR can easily land in jail. The government and police use the system to punish people for personal vendettas. 80% of prisoners have not yet been sentenced. Many have no arrest records since they have been sent there by powerful people. Even the president can send somebody to jail without a warrant. You could easily spend 10 years for stealing an egg, yet spend only days for murder. A "no a lugar" or discharge can be bought from almost any judge, specially the one in the 7th. circuit court, where the Baninter case is being handled. Our judges on a scale of 1 to 10 score 10 for corruption.Discharges range from US$10,000 and up. Bag men are used to collect the money, which in addition is spread among district attorneys so they don't appeal the discharge. Upon arrest prisoners are sent temporarily to Palacio de La Policia, Palacio de Justicia jail(top floor) and or local police station jails. Torture is part of the menu at Palacio de La Policia, where the hardest criminals land first. But you can easily get loose if you have heavy bribe money. At Palacio De Justicia you spend at most 15 days in interrogation with the Juez de Instruction. Try to avoid the "Vietnam" cell at Palacio De Justicia where the "palomos" and "glue sniffers" land. Once the judge classifies your case(calificacion)to criminal or penal, then your are sent to formal jails to wait for your day in court. Upon arrest you are fingerprinted and photographed. With a good bribe, you can avoid having this done, and you can end up in jail with a jail file, yet your police file would not exist. At the local jail you will be photographed again and a 3X5 card will be your record. But this will not end up in your police file. This is why many prisoners are lost in the system. After release you can buy off your police file for barely $500 pesos. A recent investigation found one file missing 500 prisoner files which were sold out to their holders. Escape from jail can also be bought. 95% of escapees paid their way out thru the "llaveros" who hold the keys and even with the warden's approval. However, once you are out, you are on your own. They will hunt you down like a dog and shoot you on sight. If they catch you alive, expect torture, broken legs and even permanent injuries. The drug agency has personnel inside jails. They bring in and sell, thru prisoners 90% of the drugs insidel. Crack is the favorite drug(piedra). Extacy is now becoming very common because of the ease to handle. Real and home-made weapons are easily obtained. Metal pipes are introduced and sold inside to make weapons. Metal forks and even toothbrushes are turned into deadly knives. Unbelievably, "acido del diablo" a toxic corrosive chemical is sold in jails to attack other prisoners. Those sprayed with this acid will be disfigured for life. Nothing has been found to repair the damage. Once you arrive in a jail like Najayo, money is your ticket to health and safety. If you have it, spend it well. The first thing you have to do is to purchase a "goleta" or makeshift-jail-cell and special priviledges which are sold like products. Goletas are sold like real estate. There are luxury suites, like the ones at "las conyugales", "especiales" or "los veteranos" cells. The conyugales are for up to 4 prisoners(you have to take turns to have sex with your partners) Las especiales can be individualized, just like los veteranos and turned into small palaces with oriental rugs, mirrored walls, air conditioned, electric plants, direct connections with the electric company(illegal connection), TV, radio, fans and king-size beds. There is a jail furniture maker that sells pine drawer type beds for $4000 and up. You can bring your own or buy furniture inside. To bring your own you have to pay a fare(bribe) to the warden for every item. For instance, to "para meter" or "import" a TV you have to pay up to $1000 pesos. A fan would cost you $300. You can connect into a private electric network if you have $1000. Cell phones with monthly fees can be obtained for $2000-$3000 a month. The lines are stolen from government offices systems which are never checked for counterfeit use and the bills are paid without monitoring. However, many private cell phone lines are tapped by Najayo Jail hackers. They have computers and communications experts. A Colombian used to own the cell phone network inside Najayo. Shares were also sold, including to people outside jail. The cell system would produce as much as $100,000 monthly. The cell minute is sold for as much as $25 a minute. Cell phone courriers walk around the hallways selling cell minutes. They hold up the cell phone high up with their arms to get good reception.Prisoners also get call card numbers from family members outside if they are able to bring their own cell phone. While prison authorities allow this, prisoners must never show off. Spot raids are done by "el coronel" and the chief of police to show they have control. But this is just braggadoccio to show they are doing something. Prisoners "clavan" or bury their cell phones, weapons and other "prohibited" items in rice and bean bags in the jail shops(colmadones). They also create fake windows from one "goleta" to another and when the inspector comes, you pass the item thru the next door window, and viceversa. Owning a goleta is as good as buying true real estate. Upon release, you can sell it with its improvements and increase in value. You can also buy several units and rent them for as much as $1000 a week. A small token has to be paid to the warden from your earnings. There are peole who earn as much as chief executives. Jail transfers are another way to collect "taxes" from prisoners. The warden sends his goons to collect the names for transfers to nasty jails, like "15 de Azua" or MontePlata". To avoid having your name in a transfer list you must pay your way out($250). The warden also collects for his "favorite charity". You must pay up. He greases his pocket. At times charitable organizations and even politicians give out free mattresses to poor prisoners. They in turn sell them. There are pawn shops and you can pawn almost anything. The most popular item is a fan. Goletas are painted in colorful designs. Some are duplexes with two floors. You are allowed up to 4 visits a week by your friends and family. During visits prisoners must wear bermuda shorts and visitors long pants to avoid escapes. There are no uniforms.Your goleta is totally private and you can bring you wife, girlfriend or import girls from local whore houses and spend as much as 4 hours in intimate privacy. If you have money, "llaveros" can bring you women from the women's prison. There are many foreign women, most in for drug charges. The Colombians and Russians are the favorites of the male prisoners, because of their youth and beauty. Many were used as drug mules before getting arrested. There are private visits on Fridays to the women's jail("tirarse") and it becomes an orgy. To assure you a sure date just bring a plastic chair. This will help you sit a woman prisoner in your lap, lift her skirt and screw her without the guards bothering you. You must pay $100 for the right to go. The orgies in this party became famous when a famous child killer was videotaped with three women all over him.A friend of mine(last name Franco) always brought in the most beautiful women from the outside. He had a goleta with mirrored walls which cost him $250,000. He sold it for $500,000 when released. It was at best 25sq.mtr. of luxury. He would be allowed to walk around the entire jail and even get "trips outside". He would always be sneaked out by prison guards, who accompanied him, to christmas parties at home. There exists a unique sign language technique between men and women from the two jails. Prisoners stand or climb high up by the cell walls and send messages to the women's jail. This way they plan dates, business deals and other activities. Mostly this is a love line. For instance if you point your finger at a woman prisoner and then cross both arms to your chest that means "I love you". Lawyers are useless to get you out of prison. The best way to get out is thru direct bribes to the judges and district attorneys, or even government officials connected with jails. Poor prisoners are called "ranas" or frogs. They sleep in the floor with mice and vermin around them. They have no private rooms or baths. They must use letrine-type holes in the jail patio and openly evacuate. They all shower together and fight for the last drop of water, while the goleta owners enjoy private baths. Open goletas can be purchased. These are built directly into the walls, like benches. Every morning at about 9am there is a "conteo"(prisoner count) where they are asked to walk out of the cells into the hallway to be counted. "Special" prisoners can remain in bed and be counted by the "llavero". Some prisoners even have their own keys to the cell!!! The veteranos can walk around the hallway after curfew with their own keys and do favors for other orisoners, like passing cell phones for rent and to buy food. There are all kinds of shops inside. Jails have the appearance of a an Arabian desert bazaar, with tents and wooden structures. Visitors also can enjoy special priviledges. If you pay you can avoid body search, standing in line and even visiting during "family day" which requires bringing children in tow. You can rent children from women outside for $50 to $100 to walk you inside as a "family". You can rent them for the day or return them after you get in and they are recycled again. All this with the approval of jail authorities. Jail is a major business in DR. Money here can buy it all. If you can imagine it, it has already been tried at Najayo or La Victoria jail. If you install a sewer line, it can be stolen the next day by the guards and sold back to you again. Riots take place at least twice a year. Personal vendettas are solved then. Many prisoners take advantage of riots and wound or kill their enemies. Prisoners burn mattresses and plastic. Jails guards bombard them with tear gas wether or not you are involved. Juveniles are beaten often just to keep them in line. The juveniles are the most dangerous prisoners because they have little to fear. The maximum jail term for a youth is 2 years. Few spend the maximum there, even for murder. Solitary cells are only for rebellious people. Few get there, but when they do it is like hell. If you kill somebody in jail you get 20 years additional automatic. Yet, during blackouts prisoners are killed easily. Blankets are thrown over the victim and stabbed and the killer is never found. Blackouts force prisoners to stand against the wall to protect their backs. If you "are in" for abusing, killing or maiming children or your mother, most likely it is like a death sentence. Prisoners hate these type of criminals and will make them pay for their crimes. A prisoner who chopped his mother into pieces paid the same way within a week in jail. Only the very poor eat and drink prison food. Most food is brought in by families. Jail food is as bad as poison. Rice is mixed with "alumbre", fattening starches and other products to artificially fatten prisoners. "Cocoa" or chocolate drink in the morning is often spitted on and pissed on by the cooks, who do not like cooking detail. Meat is almost non-existent in jail food. Rice is "apastado"(clumpy) so heavily as to be almost solid. Prisoners wear the latest street fashions during visits with expensive sneakers, chains and stuff. Only the very poor have raggedy clothes. Families treat their prisoners well in DR and they have no choice since the government provides nothing else. This is the reason our prisons are so permissive. As bad as our prisons are, hardly anyone in our prisons would trade a prison term in DR for a prison abroad, specially in the United States, where body contact with spouses and other priviledges are not permitted. Drug prisoners sought by U.S. authorities like the DEA fight their heart out not to leave our jails for a federal U.S. prison. Dominican prisoners would pay anything not to be extradited.(a prisoner who was about to be extradited to the U.S. ran for a window at Palacio de Justicia and jumped to his death rather than leave) Besides, with the proper credentials(money) your hope of getting released are better than anywhere in the world. Nowadays presidential pardons are sold left and right and the number of pardons have increased by as much as 3% of the jail population of 17,000. Music, specially bachata is played all day and night long. There are weight lifting areas created by the prisoners to keep in shape and prisoners are allowed to go to the "patio" for sunbathing and activities in the morning. Curfew starts at different times after 8pm. Transfers within the same jail are harder than getting transfered out and very costly, because it becomes a business proposition. The only reason to request a transfer is to get a better cell or goleta, or to avoid contact with an enemy who is about to be transfered from another jail. This is a priviledge that the warden knows has a top value. So be prepare to pay big bucks. If you get sick chances are your illness will get worse. Medical assistance is almost non-existent and you must pay dearly to get a hospital or clinic pass. The wardens do not like hospital passes because of the high ratio of escapes. If you need an injection you must buy the prescription, the syringe, the cotton and the propyl-alcohol. All drugs and medicine must be bought by prisoners. At best you will get an aspirin for major pain. Few prisoners get days in court and they must get up very early in the morning to ride the heavily guarded jail bus. 90% of the times your court visit will end up in countless referrals, recesses, postponements and unless you pay, you may end up with life in prison.
TW