RICARDO
Thomas’s friend, Ricardo (not his real name), lives in La Paz where he works as a tour guide. He does not reveal his prison past to clients.

FANTASMA
Danilo Vargas (Fantasma) ran the tours until he stabbed a fellow prisoner. He was transferred to Chonchocorro maximum security prison where he committed two more murders. In March 2007, inmates turned on him, shooting him three times in the head with his own .38 calibre pistol.

BARBACHOCA
Luis Amado Pacheco, alias Barbachoca, attained a law degree from inside the prison after studying by correspondence. Following his early release, he intended to write an exposé of his own drug case, naming high-level politicians involved in international trafficking. He was found ‘accidentally electrocuted’ in his apartment in the south of La Paz in March 2012, after apparently attempting to change a light bulb.

THE TOURS
Despite a sign outside San Pedro declaring that “FOREIGN VISITORS ARE NOT ALLOWED INSIDE FOR PURPOSES OF TOURISM” and a 2003 news piece by ABC’s Foreign Correspondent confirming many claims made in this book, the prison tours continued to grow in popularity. The Bolivian government denies prison tourism occurs, despite internet photos and video to the contrary. Intermittently, tours have been banned, often following local news footage of westerners departing the prison high on cocaine. Since the publication of Marching Powder, tour prices have increased from $5 to around $100, with many paying hundreds more to stay the night.

CHILDREN LIVING IN SAN PEDRO
In June 2013, reports surfaced of a 12 year old girl falling pregnant after five years of systematic rape by three male family members inside the prison. Authorities vowed, yet again, to close the prison and transfer all inmates to other prisons. At the date of publication, the prison has not been closed. Over 2000 children continue to live in Bolivian adult prisons, with over 200 in San Pedro alone. The only improvement in the children’s conditions has come from an initiative by the Italian Catholic Church, which established a day-care centre inside the prison staffed by volunteers.

YASHEEDA
Thomas did not continue his relationship with former girlfriend Yasheeda (not her real name).

THOMAS AND RUSTY
After leaving San Pedro, Thomas and Rusty moved to Colombia, where they worked as English teachers while writing the first draft of Marching Powder. Thomas then flew back to London, where he gained employment painting houses through Prisoners Abroad, the charitable organisation that had helped him whilst in San Pedro. He remains in contact with Sylvia, his guardian angel.

Recently, Thomas moved to his birth country, Tanzania. He is off cocaine and works in an international hotel. Rusty continued living in Colombia for eight years, interviewing child soldiers and researching cocaine submarines for his next book.

Rusty and Thomas are still close friends. They have met up several times and speak regularly. In 2010, Thomas had his first son, who he named Rusty.

In 2017 Rusty and Thomas went back inside San Pedro to film the documentary Wildlands (directed by Colin Offland)
 

OTHER LINKS

BBC Article – Bolivia’s San Pedro ‘tourist prison’, 20 years on