Boktips: El Choco av Markus Lutteman

Markus Lutteman's 'El Choco' is not a literary experience. But it is a fascinating journey into a world that is best experienced from a distance. After a failed drug smuggling operation, Jonas Andersson ends up in the notorious San Pedro prison in Bolivia. There are no locks on the cells and no guards. The violent and armed prisoners rule the roost.

A society within the walls

The prisoners run restaurants, take courses in papier-mâché, engage in the drug trade and decide who deserves to die, in various brutal ways. Wives and children periodically live in the prison, as do the servants of the rich drug lords.

If you have the money, you can hire a construction company to renovate your "apartment" and maybe get a jacuzzi. In this brutal and corrupt environment, Jonas ironically starts to put his life in order: he quits drugs, gets married and becomes a father.