Van der Sloot Courtroom Will Be In Castro Prison
No luck Joran van der Sloot will get away from the notorious Castro Castro prison, not even to appear before judges
The courtroom in which Dutchman Joran van der Sloot will appear in connection with the murder of a 21-year-old Peruvian student is located right on the grounds of the notorious Castro Castro prison, which van der Sloot now calls home.
It is now nearly a month since Stephany Flores was beaten to death in a hotel room registered under van der Sloot's name. The number one suspect in the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in 2005 from Aruba has since confessed to the crime, though later recanted his statements. Van der Sloot was attending the Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) when he met up with Flores. The two apparently went up to his room to play some online poker.
Much has been made of the Castro Castro prison, called one of the worst penal institutions in the world. The new warden was killed his first day on the job recently. Van der Sloot last week claimed that a rat crawled up through the hole that is his cell toilet. So many stories have been told by van der Sloot in the past, we may never know if the rat made an appearance.
CNN was granted an exclusive look at the courtroom contained within the prison.
Jean Casarez of CNN:
"Luis Iglesias, the administrator for prison courtrooms, told me the reason the court building was built in the first place was because of security issues plaguing the Lima community. Prisoners had a tendency to try, and sometimes succeed at escaping from custody while being transported to Lima's grand Palace of Justice for their court appearances. The answer was this courthouse adjoining the prison itself.
"The judicial process that is going on currently with van der Sloot is the investigation phase. It is led by Judge Cordova in what is called the court of "juzcado" or court of first instance. Any proceeding during this time is private, without any cameras allowed."
CNN, however, was allowed to film a trial in progress, unrelated to van der Sloot. It is the first time such a thing has been allowed at Castro Castro.
"(We) were able to videotape a Peruvian trial that was taking place in the same courtroom they say van der Sloot's trial will be held in. It was very modest by American standards, but their courtroom proceedings are formal, streamlined and extremely serious.
"The defendant sits in the middle of the courtroom, all by himself, while his attorney sits on the right side and prosecutors on the left.
"The witness sits on the far left side angled to face the attorneys and the three-judge panel. The judges listen intently as the testimony is being given and sometimes consult amongst themselves. Under Peruvian law, the three judges do not have to rule unanimously, a simple majority will convict someone of their crime."
Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
