Information Sources
This study consists of several research phases. The first phase was conducted in 1989, as part of a program financed by the World Health Organization, in which nine countries participated.1 The objective was to study the risk of HIV infection among men who have sex with other men. To this end, a questionnaire known as the “Homosexual Response Survey”, prepared jointly by all nine countries, was used. In order to assess the possibility of circulating the questionnaire, in-depth interviews were conducted with eight openly homosexual or transvestite inmates in one prison. As a result, 22 out of the 24 inmates who were registered as “homosexuals” in the prison files, agreed to complete the questionnaire. Only two were unwilling to participate. Thus, the sample obtained represents the group of “obvious” homosexuals or transvestites, as they describe themselves.
To strengthen our research in this particular prison, an additional questionnaire was circulated among the prison’s administrative staff. In January of 1990, staff were asked to complete a short, self-administered questionnaire, with questions relating to symptoms, origins and forms of prevention of HIV virus as well as attitudes towards homosexuals. Data was gathered from 37 prison officials.
The second phase of this research program began in 1991, when ILPES launched its AIDS prevention workshops for Costa Rican prison inmates. The courses were open to all prisoners and, by 1997, more than 1,000 had signed up for them. These workshops have enabled us to discuss issues relating to the sexual culture in prisons. Since each course consists of eight three-hour sessions, and covers a wide range of topics related to sexuality, drugs, love, violence, AIDS prevention and others, the workshops have provided a very rich source of information about sexual activity in prison. In 1993, we studied the pre-test and post-test responses of a total of 188 inmates of all sexual orientations. However, many participants preferred not to discuss very intimate details in public. Therefore, to gain further information on specific topics, in January and February of 1995, we conducted in-depth interviews with a dozen inmates known as “cacheros” (men who perform active anal sex), “zorras” (in-the-closet homosexuals) and “guilas” (young gay men), the categories not included in the first phase of the study. Workshop participants also recommended friends who fitted into these three categories and most participated willingly in the interviews. Some had participated in the courses and others had not. The interviews lasted between one and one and a half hours each. All participants were interviewed for two or three sessions. The average duration of the entire interview was three hours.
The interviewers were gay men who have worked for several years with support programs for prison inmates run by non-governmental organizations. They have gained inmates’ trust and much of the information obtained proves this fact. In the course of the interviews, prisoners discuss drug-trafficking, prostitution and even homicides which have occurred within prison walls. Without our assurances of complete confidentiality, they would not have revealed much of this information. The fact that the interviewers displayed familiarity with sexual jargon and culture, succeeded, on many occasions, in eliciting admissions of certain unrecognized practices and feelings on the part of interviewees.
With the introduction of the holistic workshops for inmates, certain things changed in the sexual culture of prisons. The results of evaluations show that sexual communication improved, condom use increased, knowledge about AIDS improved and homophobia decreased.2 Nevertheless, these changes have not altered the main sexual relationships that predominate in the different prisons, and therefore the data gathered during the three phases of the study is still valid.
In order to protect the privacy of the inmates and prison staff who participated in the studies, we have changed their names or used acronyms. We have also omitted the names of the prisons selected for the sample, together with any descriptions which might identify the penitentiaries and their inmates.
ADMISSION
San Sebastian is San Jose’s admission prison, from which prisoners are sent to other penal institutions. This facility has a long name, typical of official jargon: the Center for Institutional Attention of San Jose. But to the public it is known simply as San Sebastian, the name of the district in which it is located, a marginal area to the south of San Jose, just a few minutes from everywhere, like so many places in the Costa Rican capital.
The building is austere. New arrivals are greeted by the somber, pale green walls of the main facade, and by a sculpture of a group of seated peasants who appear to gaze coldly and lifelessly. At night, they often frighten passers-by who do not realize that they are made of stone. “Why are there statues of peasants in front of a prison where most of the inmates are from the city?”, a foreign visitor asked us one day. “So people will understand that the lack of land and the influx of peasants into the cities is what has screwed up this country,” we replied, without believing our own explanation.
Beyond the prison’s outer fence is the reception counter where a female official enquires about the purpose of our visit. We then face the hostile or indifferent expressions of the guards who open the glass door that leads to the prison’s administrative area.
This is the prison’s “official” face, the one seen by occasional visitors and staff. There is another reality which can be sensed from the building itself, if you walk a little farther towards the south. Here, things change radically.
The walls suddenly lose their color, become gray and stained with damp. This is where visitors stand in line -- a line which sometimes seems interminable -- waiting to visit the inmates: there are men, of course, but the majority are women, presumably mothers, wives or girlfriends. They go through the admission procedure on visiting days: the long wait while documents are checked, the inquisitive look of the guards, a more or less thorough search. Above, on top of the prison walls, are the guard posts, the barbed wire and the weapons.
But there is yet another reality, the harshest of all: the reality of the inmates, the prison’s permanent “residents”. They arrive here under escort, guarded inside the “perreras” or “dog cages” (as the official prison transport vehicles are popularly termed) and are driven through an enormous gray metal gate.
New arrivals are usually handcuffed and suddenly pass from the pitch darkness of the prison van into the blinding light outside. They are quickly taken to the “reception” area, where they undergo administrative procedures for their admission to prison. Seated on a long wooden bench, under the watchful gaze of blue-uniformed guards, new arrivals wait their turn to be admitted. Most are poorly dressed, dirty individuals, who sit in silence and look apprehensively at everything around them.
Behind an old typewriter, one of the guards fills in the registration forms, and then takes the prisoners’ fingerprints. Afterwards, they are taken to an office where, after an interview, they are assigned to a particular section of the prison and their treatment program is defined. We hear a new inmate being interviewed: “Profession?”, asks the prison official. “Bank manager”, replies the prisoner.
Inmates who are here for the first time and have not yet been sentenced are sent to Section A , the remand section. The same fate that awaits first-timers who are admitted after sentencing. Section B1 is where re-offending prisoners who have already been sentenced are placed. Any inmate who has problems with another “resident” of B1 is sent to section C1.
Repeat offenders are sent to sections B2 or C2. Other Costa Rican prisons have Maximum Security wings that house violent inmates, those serving very long sentences or prisoners who must be isolated for personal security reasons.
Once the admission procedure is completed, the new arrival begins his journey towards the heart of the jail. He moves along narrow passageways, painted blue and cream, through a succession of metal gates and electric locks, which are operated by invisible hands. As he goes deeper into the jail, the faces become increasingly hostile.
Suddenly, reality hits him: when he passes through the last gate of the administrative section, he comes face to face with his new world: the interior of the prison. The officer who guards this point performs a final search and a second metal gate opens. This is the boundary between freedom and captivity. It is where prison reveals its true face.
Here, my guide and contact, “Pico de Lora” (Parrot Beak”) is waiting to introduce me to prison society. I see him walk towards me. He is about thirty years old and quite attractive looking, with fine features. His hair is black with a few gray hairs. He is shirtless and has a phenomenal chest, like a body-builder. “Good afternoon,” he says in a thick voice. “Are you the one who’s going to write about us?”, he asks. “Yes, I want to write a book about sexual culture and you were recommended to help make the contacts for me,” I reply confidently. “Well, are you going to write about sex or culture?”. “No, ‘Pico de Lora’, you don’t understand. Sexual culture is one subject,” I answer obligingly. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand shit,” he retorts. “Are you really going to write a book or have you come as a voyeur, so you can jerk off at home later?”, he asks in all seriousness. “I’m here to write a book, and if I jerk off later that’s not your problem,” I answer to win his respect. Pico de Lora grins and asks no more questions.
Behind bars, a makeshift “pulpería” (corner store) sells refreshments, sweets and packaged snacks to the inmates. This is the “International Mall”, says the store administrator, another inmate. “We take all credit cards here except Hijack-Express. Problem is, we don’t give any of ’em back.” “And what do you sell here?” I ask. “Well, anything from a goddamn pizza to duck ‘à l’orange’. Week-ends we have spiced foxes ,” answers the store man. Pico de Lora winks, “the store man is the fox”.
Beyond are some large metal containers filled with garbage and flies, where the waste from the cell blocks is collected. “The fly is the national bird of San Seba”, says my companion. “Some guys even keep them as pets.” This is the beginning of the long passageway, lined with wire mesh, which leads to the prisoners’ final destination. The sense of smell is the first casualty here: it is impossible to escape from the penetrating odor of “Carbolina”, a strong disinfectant used to keep cockroaches and other pests at bay. This substance is mixed with water and sprayed everywhere. “If you don’t like the smell, I’ll spray you with Paco Rabanne in a moment,” says Pico de Lora.
It is also impossible to escape the stares, which visitors are warned not to return. New arrivals must endure the gaze of dozens of pairs of eyes, from every direction: from those wandering along the passageway, from the dark windows of the modules, which are separated from them by a “green” area. “Why do the inmates stare?”, we ask Pico de Lora. “Well, the eyes are like a color TV. When you come into jail, the guys see different things.” he replies. “Different colors?” I ask in surprise. Pico de Lora becomes irritated at these questions and, with some reluctance, explains:
“Yeah, it’s like you’re watching a black and white movie and you suddenly get it in color. For example, I’m looking at you now in black and white, but I notice you have a gold c hain. This appears in pure color because I want it. Each guy sees color in the things he wants. A “cachero” will see your butt all pink, and a mugger will see your wallet red, full of colorful toucans.” (“Toucan” is slang for a 5,000 colon note, approx. $20).
Pico de Lora is right in a way. We all have black and white screens and colors are added according to what our minds decide is of interest: there is no specific look, no general interest. The inmates see the new arrival in accordance with their desires, and these may vary every moment. I begin to feel aware of my entire body. I feel like a walking rainbow. “What is a ‘cachero’?” I ask Pico de Lora. “Uh, don’t be a jerk !”, he replies, not believing my ignorance. As he does not answer I ask, “And why a pink butt?”
I remain perplexed, thinking about televisions. All of our minds giving color to what we like and leaving in black and white what we do not. It sounds funny, but it conceals a great tragedy. Everyone is into their own thing; only desire matters. We are in the same prison and each person chooses what he sees. There cannot be much impartiality in my eyes. I have my colors too. “Pico de Lora, does this mean that there cannot be one book, but thousands, about this jail?”, I ask, not expecting an answer. “What colors are you seeing now?”he asks.
As one moves down the corridor, one is overwhelmed by a feeling of desperation. It is here that, for the first time, one senses freedom ebbing away. At the end of the passageway, dismal bars rise up at the entrance to each module, the inmate’s final destination. Crowds of men are crammed into cells that were built to accommodate half their number. “Who designed this ?”, I ask innocently. “Designed?”, Pico de Lora asks in a sarcastic tone. “Excuse me, but design sounds like something fancy and this here is a shit-hole. The guy who did this, or conceived it, shall we say, was a butcher or a public architect -- it’s all the same shit.”
We go into a cell. It smells of sweat, but it does not stink. The inmates are clean and they all turn to stare at us. “Is this guy a toad (an informer) or a public official ?”, they will ask themselves. “Hi guys,” I say, “I’m here to write a book”. “Well, look here, Truman ‘Chayote’ just arrived to do a novel!” replies a venomous transvestite. “I’m Mother Teresa and a great whore,” continues the transvestite, who introduces ‘herself’ as “Clitoris”. “No, really, I want to write a book about you,” I insist, as I ask myself why the hell I’m doing this work. I fix my gaze on Clitoris. I think ‘she’ is the ugliest queen I have seen in my entire life: she has drooping breasts which have deflated for lack of silicone, a mouth swollen from so many beatings and a nose more twisted than Friday 13th. “Well, girls, since Princess Diana died, the paparazzi have nothing to do, so they come to photograph us. I’m going to make sure that my chauffeur isn’t stoned so he can take me immediately,” says Clitoris, trying to wisecrack. The rest of the inmates, who are accustomed to her outbursts, laugh with a mixture of sympathy and contempt. “OK, that’s enough!”, says Pico de Lora. “Let our friend do his interviews so he can tell people what goes on here.” “Okay, so what’s your book about?”, asks Toro. “I’m here to write about sex in jail,” I answer with some trepidation. “Holy cow! Tere’s going to collapse”, exclaims Clitoris, pretending to faint.
First Impact
Prisons are characterized by overcrowding, the result of a growing population, growing crime and increased penalties for certain offenses such as drug-trafficking. In the prisons we selected to conduct our interviews, overpopulation in 1997 exceeded 100%. Facilities built to accommodate 300 inmates now hold more than 1,000. Blocks designed to house 40 people hold an average of 100 prisoners. Cells with capacity for four people, now have up to 15. In 1997, the prison population in Costa Rica totalled 5,730. Pico de Lora tells me that congestion produces violence. “When you put rats in small spaces, they end up eating each other,” he says sadly. “Here, the rats have more freedom than we do and they’re less stressed out because they can wander up and down,” he adds.
Overcrowding means that many inmates do not even have a bed or a mattress to sleep on. The bathrooms are always full, and prisoners must wait for hours to answer the call of Nature. In some prisons, water pours into the cells when it rains. Rats and cockroaches can be seen 11 everywhere. “In one place there’s a nest of rats that are so big that even “Racumín” (a rat poison) doesn’t kill them,” says a transvestite called Enriqueta.3 Mosquitoes attack incessantly. “Anyone who doesn’t have incense to burn has to suffer mosquito bites all night,” says Jara. “Only people who eat garlic are saved from being eaten alive.”
In many prisons, there is nothing for inmates to do. Opportunities for work or study are very limited. In some, possibilities for work or study were non-existent until ILPES became involved in 1993. Inmates were locked in their cells all day, except for a brief period when they could go outdoors to get some sun or attend Christian services. The classroom of one prison has only twelve desks. The computer workshop can receive only ten people. However, the prison population varies between 700 and 1,000 inmates. In the country’s largest prison, with more than 1,500 inmates, opportunities for study are greater, but only a small percentage of prisoners actually benefits from these. Work options are also very limited. Very few companies avail themselves of cheap prison labor.
The cells are divided into small niches or dens which provide the only personal space for inmates. Using a mattress, a blanket, a sheet or cardboard, prisoners close off the small area of their bed for themselves. These niches are used for many things: to plan a robbery, make a confession, masturbate, have sexual relations or plan an escape. Although you cannot see inside, everything can be heard, so real privacy is non-existent. “I’m aware of every fart in every den,” says Lola, another transvestite. “Nothing can be hidden here. The only privacy you have is the law of silence, which stops inmates from informing the guards”. However, inmates consider that there is privacy when others pretend not to see what goes on. “Here they rape a guy in front of everyone. They go into a den and you hear the screams and the moans,” says Carlos. “Nevertheless, they pretend that because of the mattress, nobody saw anything.”
Prison is a world of men. Not only is there close physical contact between them, but emotional contact also. “From the time you arrive here, the only company you have is other men. You eat, shit, sleep and fuck with them,” says Pablo. Prison makes men seek other males to talk, to be intimate, to plan and dream together. “You’re forced to share everything with them. What you once talked about with your mother, your girlfriend or your son, you now tell your cellmate,” explains Luis. However, most prisoners arrive completely unprepared for the culture they encounter in jail. Jose, for example, could not believe that the attractive “girl” he saw passing by his cell was actually a man. “I know I should have realized that this is a men’s prison, but I was so shocked, it never crossed my mind that “she” was a homosexual. I thought “she” was a female prison officer interviewing an inmate. When I realized, I nearly fainted.” Enrique entered a section where a transvestite was passionately kissing her “man”. It was the first time he had ever seen two men kissing. “I thought they were going to grab me next. Nobody explained to me what was going on.” Others, like Carlos, arrive in the middle of a lovers’ squabble. “I was all depressed and, when I got to my cell, there was a fight going on between an old guy and a young kid. The first was accusing the second of having given his ass to someone else. The young kid asked me, “It’s a lie that I was with Pico, right?”. I felt sorry for him so I said: “Yeah, I never saw you with Pico.” In some cases, young men or transvestites are raped on their very first night in prison. Claudia, a transvestite, recalls: “I didn’t have time to adapt to anything. That same night I was raped by three sex maniacs.”
The system punishes crime with captivity and overcrowding. People find themselves in such close physical proximity that inmates have more contact with each other, than they would in any other situation. “Even with my wife I never had the physical contact that I have with my cellmates,” says Luis. “I know what they eat, how they sleep, how and when they go to the bathroom, what they think, what they want and what they desire.” Communication is so intense, that Pedro believes “there’s no relationship as close as this in other spheres of life. Outside, you don’t spend twenty four hours a day with anyone. It’s not usual to get to know someone so intensely.”
This physical and emotional proximity leads to increased homosexual relations. “It’s a short step to take from relying on a companion for everything to ending up making love with him,” reveals Jose. “Perhaps not everyone does it, perhaps not with your best friend, but the fact is that sooner or later -- and generally sooner than you think -- you end up falling in love with a man,” says Fernando. According to the results of a questionnaire completed by 188 inmates who attended the AIDS prevention workshops in 1993, only 23% believe that homosexual activity in prison is very limited, while 72% admit that it exists to some degree.4
Captivity produces a kind of stress which, according to Hart, leads to radical changes in sexual behavior. Not only do homosexual relations occur, but inmates’ libido increases considerably.5 Juan Carlos believes that prison has made him more “horny”. “Now I need to fuck every day. What I used to do in a week, I now do daily. I feel a great need to screw guys, day and night.” Sex is one of the few pleasures to be found in jail. For some, “it’s party time every day”, since an orgy can happen in any cell.
Prison culture is more tolerant of homosexuality. Mario tells us that “the first thing you notice in the block is the ease with which men kiss each other and go around holding hands in front of everyone.” No one bothers to look at couples who come together at night. “You can hear moans and screams of pleasure inside different dens,” he adds. Mario says the rest of the inmates “jerk off listening to the ‘cacheros’ screwing the gays.” However masculine one might be, “ there’s homosexuality all around”.
In some prisons, the level of tolerance is so great that “beauty pageants” are held. Transvestites take advantage of week-ends to organize these events. “I was Miss Soda 1995,” a 23 year-old transvestite, Lola, tells us proudly. The competition, ‘she’ says, was very tough because there were a lot of contestants. “But I was the most beautiful, to the annoyance of most of those big whores.” Lola obtained almost forty votes more than the next runner-up. “The public was fair”, ‘she’ recalls, “because I don’t use hormones like La Chepa -she’s more artificial than a silicone tit.”
Inmates even recognize “married” couples. When a “cachero” gets together with a transvestite, the rest know that the latter is his “woman” and “it’s better not touch her because you’ll get your hand cut off ”, explains La Castilla, an older transvestite. “All we need is for the Great Traitor (a well known religious leader who is rumored to be homosexual, even though he persecutes gays) to come here and do a religious wedding,” he adds. Couples are so accepted that “anniversary” parties are sometimes held. “One queen even claimed she was pregnant. The truth is, she was constipated.” Rosa, another transvestite recalls: “I was the godmother at a wedding in a prison I don’t want to remember. We bought a wedding cake and we dressed the queen in white, with the sheets from three cells. It was an amazingly beautiful dress, because ‘La Chica Oregano”, another queen from there, had made a crown from coconut shells and filled them with white garlic. You didn’t know if it was Dracula’s daughter or a real bride getting married.”
In some prisons, inmates found performing sodomy are punished and placed in stricter regimes where there is less freedom. However, it is very unusual for the guards to enter the blocks or the cells at night. And if they do, the inmates warn each other. “I was in a kind of embarrassing situation, if you get my meaning. I was having the best of best times, when I heard someone say: “Chepa, get it out...there’s a raid.”
The guards generally prefer to look the other way when they find a couple engaged in sodomy. According to one guard, prison relationships are so intense, that when they take a “kid” or a transvestite to another block, as punishment for having been caught “red-handed”, there are men who slash their wrists in desperation. “The pain of separation is such a big problem, that it’s better to leave them in peace together,” he adds. “Well,” says a transvestite, “it depends on the guard. Some are as gay as us, and they make eyes at us when they catch us in the act. One said to me, ‘hey blondie, finish what you’re eating and then come and give me some.’ Others are real assholes and send us to the punishment cells on the slightest suspicion.”
The scale of the homosexual phenomenon
The question of how widespread homosexual practice is in prisons is as old as the penitentiary system itself. Havelock Ellis,6 in his famous book Studies in the Psychology of Sex, says that the percentage of men who are sexually perverse is approximately 80%, though he recognizes that in their “desperate moments, I believe all of them really are.” Joseph F. Fishman7 in his book which has become a classic, Sex Practices of Prisoners, published in 1934, believes the percentage in North American prisons is between 30% and 40%. As a way of preventing homosexuality in prisons, Fishman recommends allowing conjugal visits. His book turned into a protest at the lack of sexual freedom -- understood as heterosexual freedom -- in prisons. In Costa Rica, prisoners now have a right to conjugal visits. However, Fishman’s description of homosexual relations in his study of North American prisons is identical to ours.
According to data gathered during the holistic workshops in 1993, 72% of the participants admit that homosexual relations occur in prison. More than 50% agree that the incidence of homosexual relations is medium to high.8
Taking account of the fact that, in addition to couples, there are older men who seduce young inmates (known as “kids”), in-the-closet homosexuals, bisexuals who have occasional sexual relations with in-the-closet homosexuals or with openly gay men, prison staff who have sexual relations with inmates, male homosexual visitors, prisoners who establish homosexual relationships outside the jail, when they are allowed out to work, it is reasonable to assume that more than 70% of prisoners engage in homosexual practices. The inmates themselves confirm this. Luis tells us that of the 700 inmates in his jail “about 500 do it”, Juan thinks that “40% of the guys have homosexual relations”. As we shall see later, one male prostitute has had relations with 25% of the prisoners. According to Toro, in certain blocks “all the guys sodomize.” He adds, “look, they used to call the guys in my gang ‘The Lions’, because of their reputation for being butchers. Now they call them ‘The Felines’ because, though they’re killers, they’re a bunch of queers.”
It is not surprising that the incidence of venereal disease in La Reforma, Costa Rica’s largest prison, should be high. During a 12-month period, 15% of the transvestites and homosexuals who completed the questionnaire contracted syphilis and 8% gonorrhea. Infection is frequent both among transvestites and other inmates.9
Two views of homosexuality
It is important to point out that perceptions about homosexuality vary greatly in different communities. Among the middle classes, homosexuality is seen as a psychological condition that supposedly develops in stages. This view is more in line with modern psychology, which postulates theories of normality and abnormality. According to those who take the “modern” view, if a person turns out to be homosexual, it is because there was a “deviation” in their natural development towards heterosexuality. They tend to blame parents or society for the supposed “abnormality”. Their aversion to this sexual preference is associated with a homosexual “character”, with supposed “psychological abnormalities”.
Among the lower classes, to which many inmates belong, homosexuality is seen as an inversion of gender which has nothing to do with psychological development. Individuals from the popular classes generally regard sexuality in terms of the body, rather than other factors. Homosexual people are those who exchange the masculine for the feminine. A man can be heterosexual if he is masculine, and vice versa for women. This is why ‘cacheros’ are not perceived as homosexuals.
The prison staff
During the in-depth interviews conducted with the prison staff, we asked them to respond to two general questions about homosexuality: its possible origins and their own attitudes towards homosexuals.
The results show that many consider homosexuality to be a disease. None described homosexuality as just another expression of sexuality, or as the characteristic of a sexual or cultural minority.
Prison staff have a concept of homosexuality which we shall call “modern”. This means that, influenced by psychiatric thinking, they consider that sexuality is determined by the object of desire: people are homosexual, heterosexual or bisexual according to whom they have sexual relations with. If a man has sex with another man, he is considered homosexual or bisexual, but never heterosexual. Both the active and the passive partner in this relationship are seen as homosexual. In this regard, they differ from the inmates, as we shall see.
The inmates
Inmates also regard homosexuality as something abnormal, since the homophobic discourse in this country is too strong for them to question it. But despite this attitude, there are major differences between the vi