The Foreboding Prospects of the Joran Van Der Sloot Story
Posted: Monday, July 05, 2010
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Articles which appeared in Peruvian newspapers and other news sources describe a situation which seems there is not a lot of future for Joran van der Sloot to expect favorable conditions.
News sources have denied parts of his original confession as being factual even though he has already recanted it. They also contend that the evidence against him is overwhelming, and regardless of how he pleads, the chance that he will receive a favorable outcome is little to none.
His offer to give details of the Natalee Holloway disappearance in Aruba in 2005, according to Peruvian police was only a scheme to try and get a return to Aruba for questioning.
Authorities in Aruba are also concerned that the 22-year-old Dutchman will be killed by a henchman in the notorious Miguel Castro Castro prison, where he may wait years for his trial to begin. He is on suicide watch and has limited access to funds in a prison where he must pay for his own food. Even if he survives the dangerous prison, he could also choose to keep the location of Holloway's body a secret, using the information to barter for money or to try to get back to Aruba like he did last week during an intense interrogation in Lima, when he tried to leverage the information to be released to Aruban authorities. When Peruvian authorities refused to send him back to Aruba, he clammed up. "He let slip that he knew the place where this person was buried," General Cesar Guardia told reporters in Peru last week. "But he would only testify before Aruba authorities." (Joran van der Sloot's lawyer troubles-Peru's Daily Beast)
Concern for van der Sloot's safety is strong from his family and the Aruban authorities as well as the local Peruvian officials. The following quote reflects the concern expressed in several articles from Peru.
"The Dutchman will be held in a solitary cell for at least four or five months," a prison official told The Daily Beast. "For his own safety we cannot mix him with the other prisoners. This murder case is so infamous that he could easily be killed. There are a lot of murderers in this prison, especially hit men who can easily be contracted from outside To the criminal mind, it's an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. They feel affronted that he's murdered a Peruvian girl and they would kill him for the honor of their country." (Joran van der Sloot's latest lie: Peru's Daily Beast).
The four or five months referred to in the quote is the time expected to elapse before van der Sloot is brought to trial. With the Peruvian judicial system holding the large amount of incriminating evidence, it is almost an open and shut case that he will be convicted. After conviction, it is assumed that he will no longer be kept in secure surroundings he currently is enjoying. If he is transferred to the regular part of this prison, his chances of being killed by the other inmates seem rather high.
However, Peru has two other maximum security prisons, neither of which have the notoriety of this one, the Miguel Gastro Castro prison. Supposedly their most dangerous criminals who have performed the most heinous crimes are housed here. Depending upon the view of the system there, they could allow him to remain in the dangerous Miguel Castro Castro prison but the seeming majority opinion is that he will be transferred to the Piedras Gordas prison where there are less of the really notorious criminals. But, in any of their three maximum security prisons, he remains a light skinned foreigner who brutally killed one of their own. Not an enviable position.
The Miguel Castro Castro prison was the scene of a three day assault by prison guards on some 450 male prisoners and 135 women prisoners. Some were badly beaten and humiliated. Some were refused medication, put in isolation and not allowed contact with family or attorneys. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights investigated the incident and found them guilty of several accounts, ordering them to punish those who were responsible, pay reparations to inmates and families where applicable. Following is a quote of disturbing prospects for van der Sloot.
As of last year there were 44,800 inmates (2,794 women) locked up in Peru and conditions are described as 'harsh'. If a prisoner has money they can purchase luxuries such as cell phones, meals from outside and drugs. For a prisoner who is poor these small luxuries are not possible.
All prisons are considered overcrowded with poor sanitation, lack of nutrition with bad food and unsanitary kitchen conditions and epidemic levels of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. There is also unreliable running water, kitchen facilities and some prisoners having to sleep in hallways due to lack of space. (Peru Prison Conditions-NowPublic.com)
Regardless of how one views the situation, even with only the maximum of 35 years allowable for murder in Peru, the present outlook for Joran van der Sloot is not what one would call good.
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