Depths of Hell: Shocking Photos from South American Prisons

Any place of deprivation of liberty carries fear, horror and despair. Hundreds of pale, emaciated, weakened, speechless and drooping bodies, lined up against high walls fenced with barbed wire, are often doomed to a miserable existence in terrible conditions. "The depths of hell" - that's what you can say about prisons in South America. A shocking series of documentary photographs of the same name, saturated with apathy and hopelessness, is proof of this.

“In my work, I adhere to the traditions of documentary photography. Sometimes I have to take pictures in terrible conditions. For example, shooting through broken windows and bars, all to capture moments of vulnerability, violence, aggression, desperation…” says photojournalist Valerio Bispuri, who spent nearly a decade in South America documenting life in different prisons on this very vast continent.

(Total 9 photos)

1. Prison Penitenciaria de Santiago, Chile, 2008

“This is one of the oldest prisons in South America. Here, the prisoners solve their problems and disputes with the help of duels, using pieces of scrap metal and drainpipes ... ”says Valerio.

2. Penitenciaria de Santiago, Chile, 2008

Traveling through prisons, Bispuri was constantly exposed to danger. The photographer was pelted with urine bags, taken hostage and put a knife to his throat, he had to flee from one prison when a young man warned that the gang was planning to attack him with a syringe filled with infected blood.

3. Women's prison Quito Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2004. In this photo, a woman cooks in a common kitchen

“Perhaps this prison is one of the creepiest places I have ever seen. Grief and despair cut through to the bone, especially when I took pictures of female prisoners with young children. Here, convicted mothers are allowed to raise their children for only four days. After they were born...

4. Chorrillos, women's prison, Lima, Peru, 2007

Bispuri saw men wrestling with knives and then playing football together, and female prisoners dancing the tango at breaks. In this photo, two young women are dancing and possibly teaching each other.

5. Los Teques, Caracas, Venezuela, 2009

“Don't believe what you see in American movies where prisons look like resort areas with hotel rooms. It's not like that at all. In fact, these are terrible places, devoid of basic sanitary conditions. The lack of washstands and toilets, and sometimes even toilet paper, is shocking. A bucket of stagnant water is the only way out in this situation ... "

6. Los Teques, Caracas, Venezuela, 2009

“In this prison there are more than ten thousand prisoners who are imprisoned in suffocating concrete boxes without windows, there are only doors with a slot where a bowl of food is served. And hundreds of hands sticking out of them resemble shots from horror films ... "

7. Prison Lugarincho, Lima, Peru, 2007

Lugarincho is the largest prison in Peru with over 10,000 prisoners. “To enter it is to catch a glimpse of the depths of hell,” wrote journalist Robert Saviano.

8. Penitenciaria de Santiago, Chile, 2008

These images of desperation and hopelessness are exacerbated by the knowledge that young prisoners are waiting for release in the cruel environment that brought them here.

9. Penitenciaria de Santiago, Chile, 2008

“Encerrados is not a book about prisons,” writes Robert Saviano. “This is a book about lost freedom, about freedom that never was.”