Peru Drugs Girl Plea
Updated: 2:15pm UK, Sunday 15 September 2013
The harsh reality for those caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru is that sooner or later the penny drops: plead guilty and get a reduced sentence or fight the case and risk decades behind bars - often up to 20 years.
It's a bit like that in many legal systems, including our own in Britain, where early guilty pleas are often rewarded with shorter sentences.
But in Peru, where they see a steady flow of young women from around the globe caught with cocaine at the airport, there is very little sympathy for the story of how they ended up there.
Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, and Melissa Reid, from Lenzie near Glasgow, who are both 20, are accused of trying to smuggle some 11kg (24lb) of cocaine out of the country.
They say they were forced to by a Columbian gang who threatened their families if they didn't go through with it, but the Peruvian legal system seems to show little interest.
There is no trial by jury in Peru, no witnesses will be sought other than the arresting officers and there's very little opportunity for the defence's case to be scrutinised.
"All the girls (caught smuggling drugs) have the same story," a senior prison official told me as we walked around the recreation area of Ancon 2, one of Peru's most notorious prisons last month.
"Many are naive to the system we have in this country. If you are caught with drugs then the system views it as a rather straightforward case.
"Why they did it, who made them do it, who threatened who - that's a wider issue. The fact remains, they still had drugs in their bag and they didn't tell anyone until they were caught by the drugs officers at the airport."
They talk tough in Peru.
According to the United Nations, Peru is now the number one producer of cocaine in the world.
A kilo of pure, refined cocaine is worth around $1,000 in Peru, by the time it reaches Europe that price has soared to around £80,000 while in Asia it can be worth $100,000 (£63,000) and in Australia that same $1,000 kilo bar is worth $120,000 (£69,900).
Mellissa Reid is now facing what the Peruvian system calls the 'six-and-eight'.
Six years and eight months for drug smuggling - a specific length because sentences under seven years entitle the prisoner to early release and transfer to their home nation.
The newspapers make it sound very simple today suggesting a release could happen as early as three years.
When I filmed inside Ancon 2 prison in the desert north of Lima last month, I spoke to the prison's only British prisoner.
Sarah, a mother-of-two from Croydon in south London, was caught trying to smuggle two kilos of cocaine stuffed in a guitar.
"When I was caught, I couldn't believe it," said the 23-year-old.
"I was told a lawyer was coming to see me - a nun - and that she would fight my case.
"When she visited me in the Dirango police station she said I needed to find $7,000 (£4,400) and she would secure my release.
"My family back home raised the money and paid it to the lawyer. The next day she brought me a blanket and a pillow. I never saw her again."
It's impossible to confirm this ever happened, but Sarah's story is repeated throughout Peru.
Sarah got six-and-eight - she's already served three and a half years.
"They say you could be released after three years. But they string you along. They say 'you'll be out in two weeks' and the two weeks pass and nothing happens. It's torture."
It's expected Michaella McCollum will follow Mellissa Reid in admitting everything for the shorter sentence. The penny's dropped. But talk of early release is dangerous and premature because in Peru nothing is certain and nothing is promised.
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