The World's Toughest Prisons will reveal what it really means to be part of this very special world - from different angles. At each prison we visit, the audience will be immersed into daily prison life. The viewer will experience firsthand the challenges each guard faces on a daily basis; likewise, he will learn about the prisoner's struggles to develop strategies for survival.
But the deep insights in this series will also allow the audience to experience the other side of the story: why was the prison built like this? What kind of rules and security measures exist here? And how are the prisoners monitored and, if they break the rules, punished?
This documentation is a never-before-seen insight into an unbelievable world, which exists within the realms of law and justice but with its own definitions of right and wrong.
This is a story audiences will love to experience, while simultaneously being thankful that it isn’t their own.
But the deep insights in this series will also allow the audience to experience the other side of the story: why was the prison built like this? What kind of rules and security measures exist here? And how are the prisoners monitored and, if they break the rules, punished?
This documentation is a never-before-seen insight into an unbelievable world, which exists within the realms of law and justice but with its own definitions of right and wrong.
This is a story audiences will love to experience, while simultaneously being thankful that it isn’t their own.
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TVTranscript
00:00A different world, with its own rules, often justice in their own hands, zero tolerance,
00:25gangs, violence, drugs, you can get all drugs inside, and harassment, I did it to make it
00:37tough, and inhumane conditions, all this behind bars.
00:54In the toughest prisons in the world, nights are the worst, when you have to lie on the
01:04floor like an animal, jammed together, and turning over, allowed only on command.
01:16Come on, turn around.
01:26I die, and I never seen a worse place like this before in my life, no, no.
01:33Three thousand prisoners, and space for only nine hundred, one of the toughest jails in
01:40the world.
01:44To be imprisoned here in Madagascar is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to anybody.
01:50The guards are only equipped with antiquated carbines, rusty machine guns, and worn out
01:55nightsticks or cudgels, but they also have a place that all inmates fearfully call the
02:02hell hole.
02:07You get sick in there, I could hardly breathe for the stench, I had to lie between pools
02:12of my own urine, and my own excrement, terrible.
02:18The hygienic conditions, intolerable.
02:22The inmates live among heaps of garbage, with cockroaches, rats, lice, and fleas.
02:38I'm scared of catching a plague, or leprosy, or some other terrible disease, I'm afraid
02:45I'll die in here.
02:48This jail is also home to women, with babies, among trash and vermin, with no special treatment.
03:00You can't raise a child here, the babies constantly contract new diseases.
03:07It is a fight for survival, in Antanimora, the toughest jail in East Africa.
03:14Madagascar is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, average
03:19wage less than 33 US dollars per month, the crime rate is growing rapidly, and the spread
03:26of diseases is a problem too.
03:29This is one of the last regions in the world where the plague, also known as black death,
03:37still exists, especially in crowded areas, like in the capital city, Antananarivo, population
03:442 million, in the heart of the island's largest city, overcrowding, suffering, despair.
03:57The Maison Central Antanimora, a prison with an infamous reputation, known by its inmates
04:04as the horror jail.
04:13It is the main prison of Africa's desperately poor island state of Madagascar.
04:2311am, the new prisoners arrive, pickpockets, crooks, murderers, rapists, the jail's daily
04:32criminal intake.
04:36And the procedure is the same for all, likewise for this newcomer, admission in the guard
04:41room of Antanimora.
04:51Moraniria Rakoto-Aresoa is the duty officer, the superintendent, the 39 year old frisks
04:59the new inmate thoroughly, for weapons, drugs, mobile phone.
05:03But there is nothing but fear, and his whole body is trembling.
05:07First, he must hand over his belt.
05:24That's got to stay here.
05:26He could use it to injure other prisoners, or commit suicide.
05:30It will be registered here in our logbook, and he'll get it back when he's released.
05:40If he can find it.
05:42Rakoto is hardly aware of what's happening to him.
05:45He is here because of theft, and totally confused.
05:51I'm scared, it's my first time here.
05:59An auxiliary guard leads Rakoto to his cellblock.
06:03The new arrival has no idea how long he will have to remain.
06:07He is in pre-trial detention.
06:10Around 700 prisoners are locked up with him in this one block alone, three times as many
06:15as there should be.
06:22I don't know what to think yet, I've only just arrived, maybe I'll meet somebody I know.
06:32As every inmate in Antanimora, he is also assigned to a group dormitory.
06:38There are no individual cells in one of the world's toughest prisons, and certainly no
06:42bed for a newcomer.
06:44Ricardo will have to sleep on the floor.
06:56We've just got too many prisoners, they suffer because of it, and there's no solution.
07:03The way it works right now is that you only get a place up there when another prisoner
07:07is released.
07:17Hard.
07:23It's hard.
07:30Every dormitory has a cell boss, or manager, who is likewise an inmate.
07:35He explains the rules to the newcomer.
07:41We demand mutual respect, no drugs, no brawls, no booze, food at 3pm, at 5 everybody back
07:49in the cell, curfew at 8, be smart, don't make any trouble, there are just too many
07:55of us in here.
08:00Too many inmates, far too many.
08:03One of Antanimora's major problems.
08:07Around 3,000 prisoners are locked up here in the centre of Madagascar's capital.
08:12Originally built to house 800, all five blocks are drastically overcrowded.
08:17Pity criminals, political prisoners, serious felons, all packed together.
08:26More than 50% of the inmates have yet to be convicted.
08:30According to the Red Cross, they can sit here awaiting trial for up to five years.
08:40In order to maintain some kind of overview of the mass of people, there's a head count
08:44several times a day, conducted by hand, with pen and paper.
08:52The number of prisoners is then noted on a chalkboard and in a logbook.
08:57The entire accounting process is chaotic and hopelessly antiquated.
09:04What you see here behind me is our archive.
09:06We don't have any computers, only some old typewriters we hardly ever use.
09:11We've got nothing.
09:12We just keep on doing what we've always done.
09:15Here for instance are the books from the 70s and 80s.
09:19What else are we supposed to do?
09:23What represents an administrative problem for the guards is sheer torture for the inmates,
09:28since overcrowding makes any privacy impossible, especially at night.
09:40Five p.m., roll call in East Africa's toughest jail.
09:44The prisoners gather in the largest block and it's off to the cells, the hours most
09:48of them dread.
09:50The rapes are unbearable.
09:53Men rape other men in there.
09:55I'm terrified it will also happen to me.
10:00And diseases also lurk in the overcrowded cells.
10:04There are too many of us in one cell and there are fleas everywhere.
10:10You can't escape them, you can't even move.
10:12That's what's given me this rash.
10:16They are everywhere in their clothes, fleas and lice.
10:25It's a small eternity before all the inmates are in their cells, the last opportunity for
10:29some hours of fresh air and light.
10:32It's Riza Rapanuel's seventh hellish night.
10:36The 43-year-old is accused of embezzlement and is awaiting his sentence in Antanimora.
10:46Riza doesn't have to sleep on the floor, he has a space on the wooden platform, rented
10:52from another inmate, for ten US dollars a week.
10:55But even so, he still finds it unbearable being cooped up.
11:01The smell of the toilet, once the door is closed, it's impossible.
11:06You don't have fresh air, not enough air, and the fleas will come out very soon because
11:14of the heat, the cockroaches, I don't know if they are already running around.
11:23The old convicts hardly notice them.
11:26You can get used to anything they say, even 100-degree heat in the overcrowded cells.
11:33Prison regulations stipulate two hours' prayer before evening lock-up, for most a tiresome
11:39chore, for others, a necessary prop.
11:53Up to 150 prisoners in a room built for 30, locked in for 12 hours every night.
12:03We've got very little space to move.
12:11Those people clap their hands at night to turn around, they can't turn around as they
12:19want to.
12:207 p.m. and the last prisoners are now in the cells.
12:26Those with auxiliary jobs are allowed to remain outside longer.
12:36Now it's really full, zero privacy, unavoidable physical contact.
12:49And for the first time in the night, the cell boss gives the order to turn over.
12:55Come on, turn around.
13:055 a.m. next morning, they'll be released, just when some of them had finally managed
13:11to get to sleep.
13:14Antanimora Prison in Madagascar, an overcrowded prison of horrors, claustrophobic conditions,
13:22horrible sanitary conditions, vermin, insects, bugs, cockroaches, it gets even worse.
13:30Women too are imprisoned here, with their children.
13:32Whoever doesn't comply ends up in the notorious hell hole.
13:37It's damned tough.
13:38You're virtually sitting on your own excrement.
13:41And these prison inmates spread the deadly plague.
13:45More on that later.
13:48A new day in Antanimora Prison.
13:56The weekly roll call.
13:58The guard troop and their officers gather outside the prison.
14:02They sing their garrison anthem, a song about the joys of harsh service.
14:11Moraneria Rakoto Arisoa is one of two duty officers.
14:19His shift lasts 48 hours.
14:21He's married and a father of two.
14:28He's been working in Antanimora for 15 years.
14:31He knows the prison like the back of his hand.
14:34The small guard room in the front yard is his office, and the heart of the institution.
14:40The place all must pass, entering or leaving.
14:48It is just as ramshackle as the rest of the prison complex.
14:52Rakoto Arisoa commands a troop of 60 men and a small army of auxiliary police.
14:59His job?
15:00To maintain law and order.
15:03The most common incidents are minor brawls.
15:06Generally, disputes where one inmate has stolen something from another.
15:10Or they involve food.
15:12Lots of prisoners don't have any of their own food, so they steal it from somebody else
15:17and we have to punish them accordingly.
15:20Crime, problems with what passes here for food, and drastic punishment.
15:28More of that later.
15:29Because now the cells are unlocked.
15:31At 5 a.m.
15:42Although it's practically still the middle of the night, the cell doors fly open.
15:46After 12 hours of close confinement, heat and stink, everyone wants just one thing.
15:53Out.
15:56Likewise for rookie inmate Ricardo in Block A.
15:59The first lock-up is over.
16:01Dressed in a fresh T-shirt, he seems hardly rested after his first night on the stone
16:05floor.
16:06You just can't sleep in here.
16:08It's impossible.
16:09I hope I get out soon, to my family.
16:13Nobody knows when their judgment is coming.
16:20Prisoner Riza, too, is exhausted after another night in Madagascar's horror jail.
16:26There is no breakfast.
16:27Those with money can buy coffee at a small kiosk.
16:38Riza has only few possessions, like most of the other inmates.
16:42A change of underwear and that's about it.
16:44He hopes his wife will visit him today, bringing news from the court.
16:49And something to eat.
16:50He's gradually getting desperate.
16:53Well, since I've been here, I sleep one hour and thirty every night.
16:59No more.
17:01Because of the fleas, because of what you think of what's happening outside, but I try
17:06to survive.
17:07And I hope that on Monday, when the sentence will be pronounced, I can go home.
17:14I'll try to negotiate with my lawyer to at least I can get the minimum of sentence, at
17:24least one month or maybe six, in the worst case.
17:30I think it will be the first death of my life, I think, but it's impossible to stay here.
17:41Riza, better than anyone, Superintendent Mura is aware of the inhuman conditions in his
17:45jail and he makes no bones about it.
17:49Yes, it is tough, damn tough in here.
17:54To do jail time in Madagascar is about the worst thing that can happen to anybody.
17:59I'm being straight.
18:00Over here, we are not always in agreement when it comes to human rights.
18:04In reality, they hardly exist.
18:09That being said, how bad must it be for a European?
18:12Bloc B of Antanimora, Bernard Venet has been in remand awaiting trial for two days.
18:19The Frenchman had a fight with a taxi driver.
18:21He is one of two white men in Madagascar's central prison.
18:26It's shocking.
18:27For me, this is a total horror, intolerable.
18:31And then there's the monotony.
18:33There's nothing to do in here.
18:36It's just like a prison, all day.
18:41The 43-year-old bar owner comes from Marseille.
18:45He emigrated to Madagascar years ago.
18:47Bernard is not entitled to any special treatment.
18:50The Frenchman must sleep in a completely overcrowded cell like any other native prisoner.
18:57This is my spot. I lie here. And there are another two right beside me, here, and one
19:07over there."
19:08Fifty-eight men in his cell, sleeping like sardines in a can.
19:16Obviously, it's complicated. Very complicated.
19:23Although Bernal, an expatriate, is used to the poverty of Madagascar, he is still shocked
19:29by the conditions here. He showers in the latrine.
19:33There's no water here. It has to be fetched from outside. We warm it up with a heating
19:41rod and then pour it over our heads. That's how we shower.
19:51It smells of urine, of course. It stinks. But, well, that's how it is when men live
19:58together in close confinement.
20:01Cleanliness. Hygiene. A huge problem in Antanimora. If you want to wash the fleas off your body,
20:17you need money in East Africa's toughest jail.
20:21We have to buy the water. Well, we've got only one water pump here. There are two water
20:31pumps. And there are people who are taking care of the water pumps. So they are selling
20:36the water to all the prisoners. And if we want to get a shower, we have to buy it 100
20:42aryat.
20:44Riza must wait. The showers are full. Although the sanitary facilities in Antanimora are
20:50just as dilapidated as the rest of the prison.
21:00Hygiene is a foreign word in this jail. Garbage and refuse everywhere.
21:11Leftover food rotting in the sun.
21:28Open sewers. And rats everywhere.
21:38Scurrying around, even during the day. The prison authorities can do nothing. There is
21:44no money. A high risk.
21:51Rat carcasses lie around. Diseased animals dying in the sun. A haven for bacteria and
21:57viruses.
21:59Madagascar is one of the few countries where the plague is still a problem, causing dozens
22:03of deaths each year. Fleas infesting the rats transfer the deadly pestilence to people.
22:10And the prison is a paradise for rats.
22:14They intend to do something about it. A group of men from the Red Cross and Madagascar's
22:19Pasteur Institute. In a barracks outside the prison, they plan to go on a rat hunt. With
22:25traps.
22:27Traps with poison to kill the plague fleas infesting the rats when they run through.
22:32And traps with bait for the rats themselves. According to the organization, the number
22:37of rats in the prison has risen sharply. The situation is becoming critical.
22:41Imagine if there is a case of plague in the prison, you have seen the overcrowding of
22:48them, so the epidemic can just spread like that, very, very quickly.
22:56The fear? A plague epidemic in the prison would also spread to the capital. And then
23:01throughout all of Madagascar.
23:04Fear of the plague is also making the rounds in the prison. As if the health of many of
23:09the inmates in East Africa's toughest prison wasn't already bad enough.
23:13The infirmary of Antanimora. Even this is far from a sterile, germ-free place. Charities
23:21and relief organizations have been criticizing these conditions for years. The prison is
23:26rife with malaria, skin diseases, bronchitis and tuberculosis.
23:33It is a hopeless battle for Antanimora's one and only physician.
23:40We don't have any medicine here. I have to stress this. We have received no medicine
23:45over the entire year. I do what I can. Sometimes we get a few donations, sometimes the nuns
23:50bring something, but that is seldom.
23:56The infirmary doesn't even have any paracetamol. And a pregnant woman is waiting in the anteroom
24:01to be examined. Nor is she the only pregnant woman here.
24:07The women's block of Antanimora. About 250 female prisoners, from thief to multiple murderers.
24:15This part of the prison is likewise hopelessly overcrowded. No privacy, no retreat. Just
24:27like the men. And exactly the same problems with hygiene and cleanliness.
24:36Only here there are children, toddlers and babies with their mothers.
24:45Even pregnant women are incarcerated. Noeli Soa, 28, a cook, is serving two and a half
24:55years here for fraud. She gave birth to her baby in jail.
25:02This is what happens. When you go into labor, the cops arrive and take you to the hospital.
25:09You're there for three days so you can have your baby and recover somewhat. Then the police
25:15come and fetch you with your baby and bring you back here. I never could have imagined
25:20having my baby in the prison of Antananarivo.
25:28Bringing up a newborn behind bars. Daily routine here. And yet, under these conditions, an
25:35almost inhuman challenge. Nana shares the dormitory with 35 other mothers and their
25:41babies. Her daughter, Lian Soa, is 18 months old. Nana says the child is permanently sick.
25:48We have all kinds of vermin and insects. There are any number of rats, fleas and cockroaches.
25:54Too many of us are packed in here. Whenever we want to turn over at night, we have to
25:59tell the others that we're turning over. And if a baby or a child cries, we have to
26:05get up and quiet them down. Otherwise, we are punished.
26:11Nana is accused of fraud. The 37-year-old has not yet been convicted. She is awaiting
26:17trial, with no idea when that is likely to happen. Meanwhile, she manages with her baby
26:22as best she can.
26:29They only let you see a doctor if you're on the verge of death. You have to take very
26:35good care of yourself and your child and pay great attention to personal cleanliness and
26:44to the food.
26:48There is no baby food. The children get whatever the women can buy or what their relatives
26:54bring. They cook together. No one touches the food provided by the prison, because the
27:00prison food is nearly uneatable.
27:04Nevertheless, while the women manage to organize and share their own food, most of the male
27:11prisoners have to rely on the prison food. The stocks for this are stored not far from
27:16the guardhouse. No refrigeration is necessary. A stuffy, dark shack is sufficient for this.
27:25Manioc. The tuber is the only nourishment provided by the state for the prisoners. There
27:32is nothing other than the starchy root. The storekeeper provides 300 grams per prisoner
27:40per day.
27:42I tried it myself. It's okay. But I couldn't eat it every day. My stomach didn't like it.
27:55I couldn't eat it.
27:583.30 p.m. Block D of Antanimora.
28:07The kitchen. Here the inmates themselves prepare the food provided by the state. Manioc, or
28:14cassava as it's called here, every day.
28:24It's difficult to cook. Manioc is very dry and hard.
28:30So they boil it until it's tender. For hours. Without salt, spices, or anything else. Only
28:38manioc root.
28:414.00 p.m. The inmates' only free meal of the day is dished out. The men manage to contain
28:49their enthusiasm. But hunger is still the best relish.
29:04I'm really hungry.
29:07Food is my biggest worry. I've got no family here in town which could bring me food.
29:19So it's boiled manioc root. Every day. Nothing else.
29:25Those without money in this jail have no chance to obtain vitamins or meat.
29:30Even though there are no official statistics, the relief organizations maintain that malnutrition
29:35is the main cause of death in Madagascar's prisons.
29:43I can't take being here. I can't be locked in a jail with so little to eat.
29:50If I don't get enough to eat, I won't survive here long.
29:56Life here is very harsh. The food is really unbearable. Every day it's always the same
30:01thing. Manioc. It makes us sick. It's infested with small worms. They're bad for your health.
30:09The guards, incidentally, bring their own food from home.
30:18The prison administration says it can do nothing. There's no money for better food.
30:23Madagascar is destitute. And the central prison is right at the bottom of the government's
30:28list of priorities.
30:33The government of Madagascar gives us this food. Our job is solely to administer the
30:38stores of manioc and see that the roots are cooked. There's only manioc.
30:45Noor has Samnwar, hardly eaten anything else for years. One of Antanimora's oldest inmates,
30:51he leans listlessly against the wall of his cell. He can't take anymore. He says he's
30:57been doing jail time in Madagascar for 38 years, and he's never once seen a judge.
31:04One day, a policeman turned up and said, come with me. And then they put me in prison. I
31:10don't know why. Then they said I'd killed somebody. I don't know anything about that.
31:16There are no papers, no documents. But now I am here, probably for the rest of my life.
31:27Samuel is 75.
31:32I don't know what you expect me to say. I'm tired, so tired. I can't live here anymore.
31:38I just sit. The food here, the manioc, I can't take it anymore. Everything hurts. My skin
31:45is peeling off. I just want to go home.
31:51Back in Block B. To quench his thirst in the unbearable heat, Frenchman Bernard has
31:57only two bottles of water per day.
32:05The native boys here are used to the tap water. But as a foreigner, I can't tolerate it.
32:13I need bottled water. I'm lucky. My family brings it in for me.
32:20If you've got nobody outside, you're in big trouble. That's how it is in here.
32:27The notorious prison of Antanimora. Horribly overcrowded and claustrophobic. Unbelievably
32:35dirty. But here is what the prisoners are afraid of the most. It is called the Hell
32:44Why? More on that coming up later.
32:47The women's block. The men from the Red Cross begin their fight against the plague.
32:52They set a good three dozen rat traps. Everything is carefully planned. They position the traps
33:00along the walls. The same path the creatures always travel.
33:06The female prisoners with their babies and toddlers regard the activity as a small shimmer
33:11of hope in order to at least prevent the worst.
33:15I hope that there'll be less sickness. And above all, no plague. And that it gets cleaner
33:22here. More hygienic. After they catch the rats.
33:29In the men's block, the men from the Red Cross set the traps considerably later. For good
33:35reason. But more of that later on.
33:39Sunday. One of the two weekly visiting days in the central prison of Madagascar.
33:54At a side entrance, the relatives of the inmates stand in line. Waiting for hours to see their
33:59nearest and dearest. To talk together for a brief time.
34:04On the other side waits Riza. His wife too is expected today. The 43-year-old is nervous.
34:14Like most of his fellow inmates, he is dependent on this visit.
34:18The real importance is that we get the news from home. How the kids are going. How everything
34:25is going outside. And most of all, it's important because it's the only time where we can get
34:35our food for the week.
34:39The time has come. It's Riza's turn.
34:42He hasn't seen his wife, Tanteli, for 13 days.
35:03Now the couple has ten minutes. Ten minutes for news of the family. Private matters. And
35:08most of all, news about Riza's trial. Tanteli visited the court on his behalf. That's what
35:15they're discussing now. The gifts she has brought cannot be given to him here.
35:22I'm glad to have seen him. But at the same time very sad. We're used to seeing each other
35:38every day. We were always together. And now we can't be.
35:44Riza needs money in jail. And, at the same time, can no longer provide for his family.
35:52Tanteli doesn't know where to turn.
35:56We can't pay our son's school fees any longer. So he's not going to school. There's nothing
36:02we can do. I feel so helpless.
36:07And they really could use some extra cash right now. Because the judge has proposed
36:13a solution. One that is not exactly unusual for Madagascar.
36:17She bought me the news from the judge and the lawyers. And we have to pay the judge.
36:26And he's asking for 600,000 aryat. And he will release me.
36:35190 dollars for his acquittal. Clearly extortion.
36:40Yet money makes the world go round. Especially behind bars. A bribe is necessary before Tanteli
36:47can get the clothing and food that she has packed for Riza inside.
36:51The auxiliary guards, or trustees, get a transportation fee for this service.
36:57Every door requires a tax. Half an hour after Tanteli's visit, her bag has arrived in Riza's
37:03block. The trustees are permanently underway in the prison with bags and baskets, delivering
37:09them to the prisoners for payment. Riza has to pay about 30 cents for his bag
37:14to be transported. One quarter of the average daily wage in Madagascar.
37:18Well, everybody gets money here. Starting from the chief of post downstairs up to here,
37:26upstairs. If you want a better bed, or an individual bed, you have to pay something
37:32to the chief of the room. Yet not even a VIP spot has any protection
37:37against cockroaches. Good spots, says Riza, cost about 19 dollars per week.
37:43The average monthly wage in Madagascar amounts to about 33 dollars.
37:48The more money a prisoner has, the better his chances of survival.
37:52The second way to get by is to become a trustee, or auxiliary guard.
37:57The guards wear a special armband. The trustees transport goods into the prison,
38:02and are in charge of locking and unlocking all the doors. In addition, they enjoy certain
38:07privileges, like being locked up later. Anybody wanting to become a trustee apparently
38:13pays the guards a backhander, or so claim many of the inmates.
38:18The prison management disputes this.
38:22There's a committee, a confidential committee, which selects the privileged prisoners.
38:29These are inmates with a record of good behavior. I myself am the chairman of this committee,
38:35and I assure you we receive no money.
38:39The business deals, in our eyes, are simply a way to ensure peace and quiet in the prison.
38:47We're not involved. They are purely between the inmates.
38:52But it maintains law and order, so we consider it a good thing.
38:57Superintendent Mora earns the equivalent of 215 dollars a month.
39:04He drives a brand new motorbike.
39:10But his job is a daily challenge,
39:13keeping over 3,000 prisoners in line with just a few men in one of the toughest jails in the world,
39:20among them violent criminals and multiple murderers.
39:24Despite obsolete weapons and little ammunition, Mora and his men manage quite well as a rule.
39:31Only once has Mora ever had to fire his weapon on duty,
39:35in the air, when a group of prisoners tried to escape during a fire in 2006.
39:42We fired into the air, not at the prisoners.
39:46That was enough to intimidate them. They didn't get any further.
39:51It seems absurd. The guards in Antanimora carry no weapons, only a few cudgels and nightsticks,
39:57while there are female prisoners running around the women's block with huge knives.
40:03And searches in the cells of the men's block are only casually conducted by the auxiliary guards.
40:11At any moment, an inmate can go berserk, become violent.
40:17Lethal utensils can be purchased quite openly.
40:21Frenchman Bernard has not yet been able to get used to this bizarre situation.
40:26It is pretty weird that one can buy razor blades in jail.
40:30The 43-year-old would never own up to his fear. Instead, he discloses his golden rule.
40:37In here, you've got to stay calm, keep your cool, stay in your place, do not provoke anybody.
40:49For troublemakers in Antanimora, the guards are ready with this, the place that scares them all.
40:56Solitary, the isolation cell.
41:00There are three of them in East Africa's toughest jail.
41:04They call it the Hell Hole, and the name says it all.
41:14Anyone who steps out of line is locked up here, for as long as the guards think necessary.
41:21Half rations, no toilet, no yard exercise, isolation.
41:35If we only imposed some lax punishment, it would not act as a deterrent.
41:39They'd only get up to more mischief.
41:41Some men need something more harsh, and only this cell can stop them.
41:45That is really necessary.
41:50Anyone caught with drugs, or injures a fellow inmate, or is found with a cell phone, lands in here.
41:58I often get abuse and insults from the men I lock up in here.
42:04They've threatened me, saying that they will kill me.
42:08They say, you're locking me in here now, but I'll find you after I'm released, and then I'll kill you.
42:16Such things do not leave Mora cold.
42:20Nothing's going to happen to me in here, I'm sure.
42:26But outside is another matter.
42:28I don't go out evenings anymore, I don't go into the town's entertainment district anymore.
42:34I'm very careful what I do, and where I go.
42:40But in here, thanks to the Hell Hole, Mora intimidates the men.
42:45They all talk of it in the jail.
42:49This prisoner broke the solitary record, spending 30 days in the Hell Hole.
42:57All you can do is sit around in there, sit around and sleep.
43:02But you're virtually sitting on your own excrement, sitting around and sleeping.
43:08I didn't have any clothes like these.
43:11I was naked down to my underpants.
43:14It's damned tough.
43:16You can't even take a spoon in there with you, so you have to eat with your hands.
43:21But your hands are filthy with your own excrement, so you can imagine what it's like.
43:32Evening falls in the central prison of Madagascar.
43:36The people from the Red Cross are now going on a rat hunt in the men's block,
43:40setting their traps in the four blocks of Antanimora.
43:47It is the time of day when the first rats venture out of their holes,
43:53attracted by the trash lying around everywhere.
43:56And now, the bait in the Red Cross traps.
44:00Unfortunately, this is also attractive to the inmates.
44:04Most of them are eating only cassava during the day.
44:11So, of course, if they can see a fish and some fruit,
44:14and it's a vitamin and some things like that,
44:17why not imagine that I would be the first one to do it?
44:21If I'm starving, almost starving, I would be the first one to do it.
44:26So it's to prevent that.
44:27The food is for the rats, unfortunately, but not for the detainees now.
44:34That is why they only set the traps at dusk,
44:38That is why they only set the traps at dusk in the men's prison,
44:42after most of the prisoners have been locked up for the night.
44:51Viewed by the hungry and curious,
44:55where they lie again tonight, shoulder to shoulder,
44:58packed together, on the floor,
45:02up to 150 in a cell for 30.
45:07While outside, hopefully, the rats will be enticed into the traps,
45:11tonight in Antanimora.
45:17The next morning.
45:19The staff from the Red Cross and Pasteur Institute gather their traps.
45:32The catch is good.
45:33They have caught 80 rats last night alone.
45:44Many inmates are curious.
45:46Some are amused.
45:48Few know that the fleas infesting them could carry the fatal plague.
45:57Now the animals await their death, in a soap solution.
46:01Volunteers drown the rodents,
46:12so as to burn them later behind the prison.
46:15They know themselves this operation is only a drop in the ocean.
46:20The captured rodents are only a small percentage of the more than 1,000 rats
46:25infesting the central prison of Madagascar.
46:31Behind the walls, Riza has just received some bad news.
46:35His wife has been unable to raise enough money to bribe the judge.
46:40He has sentenced Riza to three months in Antanimora.
46:45I was astonished because I didn't expect such a sentence.
46:50I can't stand it, but I can't do otherwise.
46:53I can't escape from here.
46:56I've tried to negotiate with the guys downstairs
46:59to take care about the sentence,
47:03but they are always asking money,
47:05so I said I can't afford it, so I'll stay as I am.
47:09Three more months in the hell of Antanimora.
47:15Young Ricardo receives his sentence one week later,
47:18one and a half months.
47:21Nana, in the women's block, is still awaiting trial.
47:26Bernard was able to leave jail two nights later.
47:30He supposedly bought himself out.
47:34And old Samuel will likely remain here till the end of his days.
47:39Here, in Antanimora, where the average prison term amounts to five years,
47:44where 3,000 inmates share a space designed for 900,
47:49where everyone, just somehow, tries to survive.
47:53Here, in Antanimora, one of the toughest jails in the world.