Peruvian prison holds drug dealer beauty contest

from island packet

LIMA, Peru (AP) - An international line of elegantly dressed contestants jailed for drug trafficking strutted into the night before an audience of Peruvian dignitaries.

Onuma Chumsri, a 24-year-old Thai woman awaiting sentence for drug trafficking, was the winner Thursday night of the annual Miss Spring contest at Santa Monica Women's Prison in Lima's Chorrillos district.

"Sex appeal is important but it is not as if we are seeking just the physical aspect but rather the value as a woman, the value of the person is the essence of all of this," said Maria Jaen, director of the prison.

Prison officials said preparations for the contest started two months ago. Entrants were required to have good conduct, attend psychological therapy sessions, and participate in some of the prison's permanent workshops, such as cosmetology, drawing, and fabric painting.

The prisoners themselves chose the representative of their pavilions. Of the 28 semifinalists 11 women were picked for the final, including foreigners from Thailand, Belgium, Bolivia and Mexico.

Their stories are all-too familiar. Lured by the promise of easy money, they came to Peru - the world's second largest producer of cocaine after Colombia - to smuggle the drug, mainly to the United States and Europe, only to be intercepted at Lima's Jorge Chavez international airport.

In keeping with Peru's sluggish court system, only 133 of Santa Monica's 927 inmates have been sentenced. A penitentiary institute spokeswoman said Chumsri has been imprisoned without a formal sentence since April 2004.

Peru's prison population of 32,397 inmates include more than 700 foreigners, most of whom were caught smuggling cocaine taped to their bodies, swallowed in plastic pouches or hidden in luggage.

While the smugglers are mostly men, there are also about 125 women, almost all held in Santa Monica, according to statistics provided by Peru's National Penitentiary Institute.

Peruvian police say so far in 2005 they have arrested 125 foreign "mules" in Lima's international airport and seized more than 1,185 pounds (533 kilograms) of cocaine.