Imagine a city within a city where the police don't go. Seriously. They just stand at the gate. If you walk into the San Pedro prison in La Paz, you aren't entering a standard correctional facility with bars and orange jumpsuits. You’re walking into a marketplace. There are no guards inside the walls.
It's wild.
The San Pedro prison—officially El Penal de San Pedro—is arguably the most famous "open" prison on the planet. It sits right in the middle of Bolivia's administrative capital, occupying an entire city block near the Plaza San Pedro. But what happens inside is basically a distorted mirror of the world outside. There are restaurants. There are barbershops. There are children playing in the courtyards. And yes, there is a lot of cocaine.
The Real Economy of San Pedro
If you get arrested and sent to the San Pedro prison in La Paz, your first problem isn't the warden. It’s the rent. This is the only place in the world where inmates have to buy or rent their own cells. If you have money, you live in "La Posta," which is basically a luxury gated community. You get a private bathroom, cable TV, and maybe a kitchen. If you’re broke? You sleep outside or in a cramped, damp "cell" that’s more like a coffin.
The real estate market here is cutthroat. Cells are traded like property on the open market, with prices ranging from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. Inmates work jobs to pay for their stay. Some are tailors. Some run grocery stores. Some even work as "taxicabs," which is just a fancy way of saying they carry messages or goods between the different sections of the prison.
Honestly, the lack of state funding is what created this. The Bolivian government doesn't provide much beyond the bare minimum, so the prisoners organized themselves. They elected a board of directors. They set up their own laws. It’s a society of 1,500 to 3,000 men (the numbers fluctuate constantly) who have decided that since the state abandoned them, they’ll just run things themselves.
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Why Families Live Behind Bars
One of the most jarring things for any visitor to see—back when visitors could get in easily—was the children. Hundreds of them. Because the prison is safer for some families than the poverty-stricken streets of La Paz, wives and children often move into the cells with the inmates.
It sounds crazy, right? But for many, it’s a matter of economic survival. If the breadwinner is in jail, the family loses their home. So, they move into San Pedro. The kids go to school outside the prison gates every morning and come back "home" to a high-security facility in the afternoon.
Critics like the Defensoría del Pueblo (the Ombudsman's office in Bolivia) have tried for years to get the kids out, citing the obvious trauma and danger. But the inmates fight back. To them, keeping their families close is the only thing that keeps them human in a place that wants to turn them into animals.
The Ghost of Marching Powder
You can’t talk about the San Pedro prison in La Paz without mentioning Rusty Young. His book, Marching Powder, put this place on the global map in the early 2000s. He told the story of Thomas McFadden, a British drug smuggler who ended up in San Pedro and started running illegal tours for backpackers.
For about twenty bucks, a tourist could bribe a guard, walk into the prison, and get a guided tour of the "attractions." This included seeing the "best cocaine in the world" being produced in makeshift labs right inside the cells.
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The government officially banned these tours years ago. They’ll tell you it doesn't happen anymore. But ask anyone in La Paz, and they'll tell you that for the right price, the gates still have a way of opening. The notoriety of the book created a bizarre "dark tourism" industry that the Bolivian authorities have struggled to kill off entirely. It’s a PR nightmare that won’t go away because the corruption is just too deep.
Violence and the "Internal Law"
Don't let the "community" vibe fool you. San Pedro is dangerous.
Since there are no guards inside, justice is handled by the inmates. If someone commits a crime against another prisoner—like theft or child abuse—the punishment is swift and often fatal. There is a "pool" in one of the sections where child molesters have famously been drowned by angry mobs of inmates.
The police only care about one thing: that nobody escapes the perimeter. What happens inside stays inside. This "self-governance" model keeps the peace most of the time, but when it breaks, it breaks bloodily. The power dynamics are always shifting, and if you're a foreigner without a local "protector," you are a walking target.
The Looming End of an Era
For a decade, the Bolivian government has been saying they are going to close San Pedro. They want to move the inmates to a more modern facility like Chonchocoro, which is a traditional high-security prison on the Altiplano.
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But it hasn't happened. Why? Because San Pedro is too valuable. The land it sits on is worth a fortune. But more importantly, the prison is a pressure valve. If you move these men to a standard prison where they can't work or live with their families, you’ll have a riot that the government isn't prepared to handle.
Understanding the Reality of San Pedro
If you’re researching the San Pedro prison in La Paz or planning to visit the area, here are the hard truths you need to know:
- The "Tours" are Illegal: Despite what you might hear in a hostel bar, entering the prison as a tourist is illegal and incredibly risky. You can be extorted, robbed, or trapped inside if a "raid" happens while you're there.
- It’s a Humanitarian Crisis: Beneath the "cool" stories of Marching Powder is a massive failure of the justice system. Many inmates wait years for a trial that never comes.
- The Market Rules Everything: Everything has a price. From the water you drink to the space you sleep in. If you have no money in San Pedro, you are essentially a ghost.
- Respect the Perimeter: If you're in La Paz, you can walk right up to the Plaza San Pedro and see the guards. It's a somber place. It’s not a theme park; it’s a living monument to Bolivia’s complex social struggles.
Actionable Next Steps for Researchers
If you want to understand the current state of the San Pedro prison in La Paz beyond the sensationalism, look for reports from the Coordinadora de la Mujer or the Bolivian Penitentiary Service (Régimen Penitenciario). These organizations track the actual demographics and legal status of the inmates.
If you are a traveler, stay away from the "tours." Instead, visit the Plaza San Pedro to see the architecture and the vibrant market outside, which is ironically fueled by the commerce happening inside the walls. Support local initiatives that help the "children of the prison" get access to education and counseling outside the walls. Understanding San Pedro requires looking past the "wild" stories and seeing the human beings caught in a system that the world forgot to fix.