Joran van der Sloot's Prison Options: Bad And Worse
June 15 2010, Published 10:01 a.m. ET
We've got the latest on you about Joran van der Sloot, the 22-year-old Dutchman who reportedly confessed to murdering 21-year-old Peruvian business student Stephany Flores Ramirez last month, and is also suspected in connection with the much-publicized disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba back in 2005.
Joran van der Sloot's Leaked Confession To Murdering Stephany Flores Ramirez
Van der Sloot Monday was taken to his new home for the time being, Peru's Miguel Castro Castro prison, which has been described as one of the roughest worldwide. CBS News legal analyst Trent Copeland dubbed it as "a place with poor nutrition, lack of sanitation, overcrowding -- immense overcrowding, and where epidemic levels of HIV and tuberculosis are known to exist.
"I'm not certain van der Sloot can do anything to assure himself that he's gonna survive this Peruvian prison system," Copeland said on The Early Show Tuesday. "So, if he's concerned about this, I think the only thing that he can do to protect himself is to stay low and keep himself out of harm's way."
Van der Sloot, who is being kept away from the prison's general population, was strip-searched, X-rayed and given a medical exam Monday, authorities said.
Joran Van Der Sloot Confesses To Murder
Another possible destination for the admitted killer could be Peru's Lurigancho Prison; defense attorney Michael Griffith described the treacherous conditions inside that facility.
"There's about 10,000 prisoners for 3,000 spaces," Griffith told CBS. "The showers run once a week for 15 minutes. There's only 12 showers. They're in rooms of about 25-by-15 feet with about 35 prisoners. About seven or eight sleep on the floor. There's a hole for a toilet -- and it's a very, very brutal place."
Van der Sloot's safety could be in peril, Griffith explained, as "for $50, someone will cut your throat. If the family of this young lady wanted to pay a prisoner there 50 or 100 bucks, they'd be standing in line to cut his throat.
"Money will get you anything in this prison," Griffith said, "and I'll tell you, I'd be very surprised if van der Sloot makes the seven or eight or ten years, whatever he'll get, with time off for good behavior.”
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Flores Ramirez and van der Sloot met up, and went into the Dutchman’s room at the Miraflores Hotel Tac in Lima, Peru May 30. The Dutchman admitted he broke Flores' neck after she was browsing on his laptop while he was out buying coffee, and learned about his involvement in the Natalee Holloway case (he was linked, but never charged).
