Inside out

‘I murder people!’ says Elanger matter-of-factly in response to my question about what he does for a living. From the comfort of my home in the UK, I have managed to get in touch, through contacts of contacts on Facebook, with someone serving 19 years in prison for double murder in Venezuela. The country has some of the most notorious jails in the world. Inside one of them, Elanger has got hold of a Samsung Galaxy S5 Neo.

Between 2010 and 2014, I lived in a student city called Mérida in the Venezuelan Andes. It is a beautiful old colonial town and was a fun place, full of bars and discos. In the end, I left because of an extortion attempt against me, and I have been curious about Venezuelan crime and prisons ever since, especially after meeting a German man who had spent three years inside one for trafficking cocaine. He told me dark tales about rats everywhere and other inmates lunging at him with kitchen knives. Through Facebook, I have the chance to see into this alien world. It’s a world that provides many insights into the almighty mess that Venezuela has become.

I tell Elanger that I am a British journalist and ask him what the conditions are like inside. ‘Why don’t you keep your nose out of my affairs if you know what is good for you,’ he snarls in Spanish. His sinister presence is so strong I can almost feel it 4,600 miles away. I give up with Elanger but start chatting with another jailbird, called Fernando, 38, who is much more forthcoming.

He has spent nine years in a jail in Valencia, the country’s third largest city, for his involvement in a kidnapping. ‘You know it’s safer inside than outside?’ he asks. ‘City streets are just so dangerous.’