A plasma TV, library, conference room and kitchen aren’t what you’d expected to see in a jail cell but that’s what Paraguayan authorities found when they raided the cell of one of South America’s most dangerous drug traffickers.
Brazilian drug lord, Jarvis Chimenes Pavao, was convicted of money laundering and was serving an eight-year sentence at the Tacumbu prison, Agence-France Presse reports.
He was due to be extradited to a Brazilian prison next year, but the raid by officials has changed that. He’s now in a police special operations unit.
Police raided the prison after they were tipped off to a possible bomb inside, which Chimenes Pavao was allegedly going to use to try to escape.
Tuesday’s raid revealed the three-room suite, which other prisoners called the “VIP cell.”
The tiled rooms had cozy couches, an en-suite bathroom, a plasma TV complete with a robust DVD collection, air conditioning and a library.
Chimenes Pavao bribed “six or seven justice ministers and six or seven prison directors,” which allowed the drug lord to live in luxury, his lawyer told AFP. Since then a crackdown on corruption has started; Justice Minister Carla Bacigalupo was fired almost immediately, the Daily Mail reports.
“We’re going to demolish Chimenes Pavao’s cell and take measures against the prison directors who allowed this inmate to enjoy these privileges,” her replacement, Ever Martinez, said.
The Tacumbu prison, in the capital of Asuncion, is Paraguay’s most crowded prison. AFP reports that many prisoners sleep on cardboard boxes and don’t have regular meals.
But in the wing where he was held, his lawyer said he paid for renovations, the cooks’ salaries and even lodging for the prison directors.
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