The Bullet in the Glass: War, Death, and the Meaning of Penitentiary Experience in Colombia

In this article, we discuss the incidence of narratives on war and death in molding penitentiary experience in Colombia. Based upon the case of la Modelo National Prison in Bogotá, we illustrate the way in which penitentiary discourses are transmitted and reproduced through two rites that initiate newcomers into the local world of confinement. The first, the tale of terror, told by veteran guards, of the cemetery filled with the bodies left by the war between rebel fighters and paramilitary soldiers. The other, the dense description of the bullet holes in the glass shield at the Main Guard Post, which leads to the main cellblocks, which give proof to the guards’ endurance when faced by the violent power struggle that rages inside the penitentiary. At the same time, we show how these discourses on the horror of the war inside the penitentiary make their way from within the confines of prison out into the free world through ex-convicts’ memoirs, press accounts, and judicial documents written by court officials who visit the prison. Drawing on this case study, we argue that to achieve a contextual interpretation of carceral violence, it is indispensable to trace, reconstruct, and comprehend the trajectory of its foundational discourses, thus allowing for the assembly of the pieces that give meaning to penitentiary experience at the local level.