This long post proves that sometimes "it really isn't all that bad behind the wall." I recently took a two day trip to La Mesa Prison in Tijuana Mexico. I was going to visit my very close friend Nathan. When you first arrive, if it is a visiting day, you can either choose to wait 3 hours to enter, or you can pay the guard at the door $2 to get a quick entry. On a non-visiting day you can also pay $2 to get in. When you first walk in to have the guard search your belongings, there are bars and a fence where you pay prisoners 1-5 dollars and he/she will run through the prison and find the person whom you are there to visit. Yes, the prison is both male and female mixed in one yard. The guards searches are not to thorough and can be easily paid for. I saw people bringing in cakes, pies and shopping carts full of stuff. I heard that if the money is right, drugs and weapons are also easily looked over. In La Mesa, they have a small section of cell blocks. The rest of the housing are called Caracas. Pretty much low grade, small spaced apartment communities. If you have neither of those, then you sleep on the basketball courts outside. Caracas usually have a small bedroom, bath and kitchen. A one peso taco is available at most "fast food" spots inside the prison. Let me tell you some benefits prisoners have in La Mesa; They are allowed to have, breed and sell animals; Give, receive and were piercings; They have no dress code; Can smoke marijuana which sells for an extremely low price; Have as many visitors as they want in a day; Visitors may spend the night for days on end; Male and female through out the whole prison. These are just some examples. Of course it has it's bad sides as well. But all prisons do. Nathan is serving 4-5 in La Mesa before the government ships him up here for 25+. La Mesa is not so bad of a place to him for now. Thank for listening.

wow I can hardly believe this is a prison!!!!

i've seen various shows on mexican prisons ~ it sounds as though your friend was able to get into a much nicer one than most. frequently, pirsoners have to pay guards for the privilege of being able to stay in the nicer housing units. many, who do not have funds for accomodations, spend years sleeping in hallways, under bushes, etc. because weapons can easily be smuggled in, there is a lot of violence in the prisons, and, because so much relies on the amount of money you have, the weak and the poor suffer horribly.....just my 2 cents....

Yes, it is true. Money is an issue in Mexican prison. But it is also easily made. Prisoners get paid for sitting in front of a door with a rope tied to it and if he/she opens the door for you, you have to give him/her a peso. Though most people who do this job get burned, they still get paid. Most Caracas are privately owned by the prisoners and can sell anywhere from $500-$5000 if you were to buy one. La Mesa is actually considered one of the worst prisons in Mexico. Considering the city of La Mesa is in the heart of Tijuana. Thank you for the feed back. ~Zoe Roe~

I did some time with a kid that did 2 years in a Mexican prison. He said it was ruff at first but when his people got him money, and he learned the language, etc., it wasn't so bad. His girlfriend moved down there with him for 6 months even. Yeah.. money talks, the rest sleep on the court.

THAT IS SCARY.. WELL NOT IF YOU HAVE MONEY BUT DAMN...

:eek: I couldn't handle visiting one of those prisons. Billy probably wouldn't survive either.

It really isn't that bad. With prisoners in Mexico, you keep the same attitude you would if you were in prison up here. Mind your own business!!! And the people will be cool with you. Give respect, and you receive respect. Nathan is a pretty huge guy, so he really doesn't worry much. I worry though, because as in any prison, race is an issues; And he is obviously out numbered.

Well in that case, Billy would be ok. He has always believed in minding his own. He pretty much takes care of himself in or out of prison. He's got a really strong "bad boy" image and no one wants to mess with him because of his reputation.

It's a good thing to be his woman because they know to leave me alone. That's a good thing!!! :yes:

I like your screen name---DeezNutz---Billy used to call me that all the time to make me laugh especially when he'd do tattoo work on me. He wouldn't use a real tattoo gun, he'd use one that he made, like they do in prison. It's more painful and he tried to take my mind off it by calling me that. It was cute!!

Hugs,

lol...well my nic is Dee so it's kind of fits. Did he used to tattoo you with a casset motor and a guitar string?....lol...you gotta love to OG ways they have...Thanx for replying...

I'm not sure about what he used as needles...trash bag twist ties to hold it together...it sounded like a dentist drill but more painful...he used the lids of bottles to hold the ink...I'm not sure about the motor but I think it came out of a tape player.

He had a real tattoo machine, he just never used it because the needles where so expensive. Now he wants me to buy him a whole new tattoo kit for when he comes home. He says that's how he will make money for a while until he finds a job.

That sounds like Mexico! The states wouldn't allow that.
Great picture too!

WoW! Its only a skip and a jump from the states but so different!Steve&kids

95% of my tattoos are with a homemade gun. It is more painful, but the single needle work can be pretty intricate. One of the guys I did time with & who did some of my ink work inside, wanted to sling ink when he got out, he started with a homemade gun till he got a regular multi needle professional gun. He used both, & said he still does about 25% of his work with the homemade gun. He said the secret to making money doing tats on the street was doing them cheap. When he firsat started he wanted to make what the guys in the tattoo shops were making, & wasn't getting to many customers even though he came to you & did it at your home. When he lowered his prices to about half what the shops were charging he sarted to pick up a lot of clients. He still was making a killing compared to what he was charging in the joint. Tats in the joint are cheap cause not a lot of people have a lot of money to pay. The most expensive one I got in the joint was a dragon on my right thigh from right above my knee to right below my crotch & it only cost me a bad of coffee & a can of tobacco (about $15.00).---Ken

Billy would do his tattoos from the house. He would have a lot of people, (men mostly) come in and out. There was hardly anywhere to sit most of the time. He did tats for money or trade, like gold jewelry. He is very good at his work and he wants to resume it when he comes home. He says he will practice on me, but I don't need anymore. LOL But if that's what he wants to do and it makes him happy then I'm all for it.

can't hate the real OG tat gun, I have one now I also have an nice spaulding and rogers one too!!! the good ol' casset motor and guitar string. those were the days... :)

Shortie, RIGHT ON babe, you sling ink?

Denise, so your a work in progress? Do you have a theme or are they individual tats? Mine are all individual. About the only theme is I guess that about a little more than half are of women, LOL. My back is almost full, I have some on my chest, stomach, thighs, & my arms to my elbows. If I wear a short sleeve shirt that goes to my elbow then mine are all covered.

I lost contact with my last guy & am looking for someone new who's not going to charge $100.00 for some small little thing. My wife went to a shop & had Ken tattooed on her shoulder, & had her friend get Danny on her shoulder & the guy charged her a C note for them. 8 letters in black in regular cursive handwriting for $100.00 is way to much, but shops here are real expensive.------Ken

Ken,

No I'm not a work in progress. I have 3. 2 are dedications and the other was a gift for my birthday. Billy doesn't charge a lot of his tattoos. Well, he didn't when he was home. The most I ever paid him was $20 for a dedication on my ankle. The other one is because he owed me some money and I told him to give me a tat instead.

Billy is covered from his neck to his ankles. Mostly on his arms. He's getting sleeves, and his left arm is almost covered now. He just got a web on his elbow. I haven't seen it yet, but his mom was telling me about it.

Shops are cheaper here, I guess because we are in WV. LOL What your wife got, Billy probably wouldn't have charged more than $30. It just depends on how long it would take for him to do it.

DOES ANY ONE GO VISIT THERE NOW????

Having grown up in San Diego, we always heard stories about the La Mesa prison (not to be confused the San Diego suburb of La Mesa - ha) and confirmed those stories were mostly true after bailing out friends from the police station next door to the prison.