Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1655 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
Thomas McFadden was a minor drugs dealer in Bolivia who was summarily arrested and thrown into jail, the notorious San Pedro Prison. Within the grim walls of the corrupt institution, he discovered a world which mirrored many of the wrongs of South American society at large: bribery, drugs, intimidation and violence at every level. McFadden needed to raise $5,000 to get released and how he managed this - for instance, by giving backpackers tours of the prison - is much of the story. Inevitably, Marching Powder recalls the nightmarish world of Midnight Express, but is sufficiently different in its own right to remain compelling. Young's account was written partly during a three-month stay with the unfortunate McFadden and reeks of authenticity. Not for the faint-hearted, perhaps, but those who enjoyed Killing Pablo may see this often surreal history as some sort of follow- up and it should do well.

Synopsis
Marching Powder is the story of Thomas McFadden, a small-time English drug smuggler who was arrested in Bolivia and thrown inside the notorious San Pedro prison. He found himself in a bizarre world, the prison reflecting all that is wrong with South American society. Prisoners have to pay an entrance fee and buy their own cells (the alternative is to sleep outside and die of exposure), prisoners' wives and children often live inside too, high quality cocaine is manufactured and sold from the prison, and all the police from the governor downwards can be bribed. Under the surface is a frightening level of violence - Thomas's life was often in danger and one of his friends was murdered by the police when he threatened to expose the corruption in the prison. Thomas ended up making a living by giving backpackers tours of the prison - he became a fixture on the backpacking circuit and was named in the Lonely Planet guide to Bolivia. When he was told that for a bribe of USD5000 his sentence could be overturned, it was the many backpackers who'd passed through who sent him the money. Sometimes shocking, sometimes funny, Marching Powder is an always riveting story of survival.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant!!!
Great, well detailed description of the coruption within the prison system! Really enjoyed this book. Could not put it down! Opened my eyes to how how cocaine is made and exported out of the prison into the market-place! I could not believe how people could be treated in such a way.

marching powder
the best book i have ever read, i could not put this book down, i got it to read on holiday and hardly spoke to the wife for 4 days, well worth the read, you just can't imagine the stuff that goes on in this prison.

One of The Hardy Perennials
I read this book on holiday last year in the Caribbean where even there the mad sub-city of San Pedro jail surrounded by the shabby residences of La Paz seemed another planet. Re-reading this book now is just as fresh and recommended to even those with no taste for such things. Briefly, marching Powder is the story of a British drug trafficker who was arrested in Bolivia and jailed in San Pedro prison. During his six-year stretch, McFadden served as a tour guide in a prison that thrived under a capitalist system made possible by bribery of officials.
This book belongs in the top ranks of prison books along with Papillon, A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook, Welcome to Hell: Letters and Writings from Death Row, Escape, and In the Belly of the Beast.
Papillon (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook
Welcome to Hell: Letters and Writings from Death Row
Escape: The True Story of the Only Westerner Ever to Break Out of the Bangkok Hilton