The Devil's Caldron: One Long Journey 5 of 26

One Long Journey

5 of 26

To reach the prison in Ilha Grande, I take the same journey that any visitor to the island must travel. We are going from Rio to Mangaratiba by bus. Since the station, I take additional care with my bags and with myself. Most of the travelers are friends and relatives of the prisoners and many of the men on the bus can be as dangerous as the men making time at the Caldron.

The atmosphere on the bus is animated and friendly. People make loud jokes, laugh, and sing in chorus. Their songs tell where they come from: the favela of Rocinha in Rio, the main stronghold where many of the C.V. members live and are adored.

This favela, the biggest shanty town of Latin America, spreads like a "blight" from top to bottom of a mountain in southern Rio de Janeiro city. It sits in the middle of an expensive residential region. In this swarming anthill of narrow alleys and streets, over 180,000 people live tightly packed in tumble-down brick houses and shacks.

In Rocinha, the Comando Vermelho is well known for its community help. The C.V. provides "security" to the inhabitants, creates illegal work for thousands of unemployed people, builds day care huts and housing shacks for the needy, installs street lights, and occasionally provides financial contributions to families of C.V. members killed in their operations. In Rocinha, the Comando is more than welcome. They are the most respected leaders in the community, and their members are protected by the population against the police, who occasionally try to invade the favela.

Arriving in Mangaratiba, a small fishing village in Angra dos Reis, we take an old ferry boat to Ilha Grande. Even though the ferry is uncomfortable, the journey is charming. While we are cruising to the island, I remember one scene that I witnessed returning from Ilha Grande in the 1980s. During that trip, a pregnant woman, who had just visited her husband in prison, gave birth to her baby in this boat without any medical assistance.

Top: Family and friends of the inmates take the hard journey on the old ferryboat.
Bottom: Dolphins swim at the Dois Rios Bay, where the penitentiary is located.