Could Joran Van der Sloot Die in Prison? Jennifer Lopez's Crisis-Turned-Crusade
KING: Welcome back. Michael Griffith is an international criminal defense attorney. He's joining us from New York. He has been to the Lurigancho Prison in Peru, where he believes Joran van der Sloot -- ver der -- ver der Sloot --</s>BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY NATGEOTV.COM) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lurigancho is one of South America's toughest prisons. Conditions are appalling. Built for 3,600, it now houses nearly 10,000.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In Peru, officially, we assume that criminals had a second chance and they have to be rehabilitated. But, unfortunately, the reality, it's not normally like that, because we don't have enough phones, we don't have enough money and budget.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With mass overcrowding, Lurigancho's 21 cell blocks can easily explode into civil war. In 1986, in just one day, 124 prisoners died. With only 100 guards to police 10,000 violent criminals, the Peruvian prison service turns power over to the inmates.</s>KING: Michael Griffith, Peru is a civilized country. How do they put up with that?</s>GRIFFITH: Well, they're one of the poorest countries in South America. And they don't give too much money for the prison system, Larry.</s>KING: Is that the only prison in Lima?</s>GRIFFITH: No. There's another prison called Miguel Castro Castro, where the prisoners brought a lawsuit against the -- in the international -- in the Interamerican Court, where Peru was found guilty, where 600 prisoners were abused, 135 women were humiliated and stripped and some of them were killed. Their bodies were never returned. And to tell you how bad this prison was, they got a new warden there now willing to go. And the first day on the job, the warden was murdered.</s>KING: Is that definitely where Joran would go?</s>GRIFFTH: Joran is there right now, but I suspect that after he is sentenced, he is going to go to Lurigancho, and I've been to Lurigancho. And as you've said, I must be the prison maven. I've been in prisons in over two dozen countries. This is, by far, the worst. It's entering, Larry, the gates of hell. If you want me to give you a thumbnail -- they got 10,000 prisoners but 3,000 spaces. There dormitories (ph) housing 600 prisoners each on three floors. When I visited my client who was a cocaine pilot on a plane, they caught him, he was in a room 25 by 15 with 35 prisoners. Seven had to sleep on the floor. The toilet was a hole in the floor. The sink of the stone was just a concrete slab with a hole. If you want to survive there, you have to have food brought in from the outside, so he is going to have to make friends with someone and pay for food to be brought in. If you want to try to eat the prison food, they got these giant vats, the size of hot tubs, where hoses come out of the ground where there's excrement and insects around the hoses. You cannot eat the prison food. When I went to visit my client, I went through a territory of what's called the Sendero Luminoso, the Shining Path guerillas, who tried to take over the country a number of years ago. I had to hire two guards to take me through this territory. When I went back the next day, I certainly didn't want to go back again, because I got there a little late to get back to the main gate, and the guards said that the gates were closed for the night and that I had to stay in. So, I gave him a couple of cigarettes and I got out. But the following day, I asked to see my client in the visiting area and ten feet away from me, one prisoner stabbed another, plenty --</s>KING: Michael Griffth is with us. Hold on a second, Michael. Let's see some more of this Peruvian Prison from National Geographic's world's toughest prisons which he's been describing. Watch.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even inside a cell block, prisoner safety isn't guaranteed. All of the blocks are in competition.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, each of us is like a pirate ship. They try to take care of their boat, you know what I mean?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Each is run as a business, selling drugs and prostitution to make money. Three times a week, visitors are allowed. This is when many inmates get their money and drugs are smuggled into the jail.</s>KING: Have they -- Michael, this is incomprehensible, incomprehensible, even for Joran Van Der Sloot and world (ph). Everything that he did is incomprehensible for a human, or an animal.</s>GRIFFTH: Larry, they got -- he is going to be put in the tourist section. They got 600 prisoners in the dormitory where there are 12 showers for 600 prisoners. The showers when I was there work once a week for 15 minutes. You can get drugs, guns, knives, anything you want in that prison. I can tell you a quick story. I know a Canadian --</s>KING: Quick.</s>GRIFFTH: A Canadian woman whose husband was killed the brother, and he was the head of a gang and he was sentenced to 25 years. After a year in prison, the guards brought him home to the wife's house one night. When he went inside, made love with his wife, and then left, and he was taken back to the prison. Money can get you anything there.</s>KING: Michael, thanks so much. We will calling you again. Michael Griffth of international criminal defense attorney. The family of the woman Peruvian police say was murdered by Joran Van Der Sloot is next.