Peru 2 jail... or holiday camp?

EXCLUSIVE: Some punishment: drug mule ran beauty business in prison...and partied with pals

SMILING broadly with a group of friends, Michaella McCollum Connolly could be any carefree young woman posing for some pictures. But these relaxed snaps were, in fact, taken inside of one of Peru’s most notorious prisons, where she was serving a lengthy sentence for drug smuggling.

Michaella, one half of the so-called Peru 2, was arrested at Lima airport in 2013 for attempting to smuggle £1.5 million of cocaine out of the country with fellow drug mule Melissa Reid. She secretly took the pictures on a mobile phone procured by bribing a prison guard, in order to reassure her family that she was coping with the harsh reality of her situation.

But she has now told for the first time of how she adjusted to life in Lima’s desolate Ancon 2 prison, including running a beauty salon and participating in dance competitions – a far cry from the hardships normally associated with such jails.

In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, the 23-year-old said that although violence was rife and conditions were hard – she shared a cell with seven other prisoners including Melissa, slept on concrete bunks and used a hole in the floor as a lavatory – ‘of course you have laughs in there’.

She quickly rose to become the ‘top dog’ in her block and was then elected ‘general co-ordinator’ for a six-month stint after winning the trust of her fellow inmates. The role meant she was in charge of the phone, TV and the budget for buying essential food and cleaning supplies.

As well as becoming fluent in Spanish, she kept herself busy doing yoga and took part in dance competitions with other inmates, competing against rival blocks. She said: ‘We won almost every single one. We were foreigners and we danced their national dance better than the Peruvians actually did – that’s why they would get so p***** off because we’d always win’.

Although her family helped her by sending money, Michaella also ran a thriving beauty salon that offered prisoners an array of treatments, including bikini waxes for 35 Peruvian soles (about £8), and haircuts and facials for 20 soles each (£4.60).

The salon was so successful – she raked in 1,000 soles a week (£230), including 300 soles profit – that she was able to employ another Spanish inmate to do most of the work while she ran her wing, and even paid poorer inmates to clean her cell. Asked why she didn’t clean it herself, she said: ‘Because it’s so dirty, I mean, even the bathroom you wouldn’t even touch. You’re literally cleaning your own c**p.’

Her income also enabled her to bribe a security guard with 400 soles to get her a mobile phone, so she could take pictures to send home to her family. One picture taken on the phone shows her crouching alongside other inmates as she blows out candles on a cake they made for her 22nd birthday last year.

Another snap shows her making a peace sign while wearing a red and white dress with a ribbon tied in her hair when she and other inmates performed a traditional Peruvian dance. In a third, she sports a white cap and rosette for a Peruvian independence day march.

She admits, however, that the pictures are at odds with the harsh reality of prison life, which at times pushed her to breaking point.

She said: ‘We would prepare ourselves for a long time because I was taking them pictures to send to my family, so obviously I wanted to look as good as possible. Those days the pictures were taken, there was always an event or something happening. Weirdly, I look kind of happy. You crying and sulking every day, that’s not going to make any difference. Of course you do have laughs in there, you do have sometimes a good time.’

She added: ‘You can make fun and obviously that helps pass the time even more. Especially when there’s a birthday party – that’s just an excuse for everybody to get together and listen to music and to dance.’

Speaking for the first time since arriving back to her native Northern Ireland last week, Michaella said she ‘takes responsibility completely’ for smuggling drugs.

She said: ‘I’m not a bad person. Yes, I made a mistake and I did something wrong but I’m not somebody who deserves to rot in jail for the rest of my life.’

Michaella, who was released from prison on parole in March after serving a third of her sentence, was granted expulsion from the country earlier this month and allowed to fly home. Her return follows that of Melissa, was arrived back home in Scotland in June.

It is more than three years since the pair were paraded before the press after being caught trying to board a flight from Peru to Spain carrying more than 24lb of cocaine concealed inside their suitcases.

Initially they lied to their families and the police, telling them that were forced to traffic the drugs, but eventually came clean and pleaded guilty. They both received sentences of six years and eight months – with the chance of being released early.

Michaella, who was working in Ibiza for the summer, said at the end of a four-day drug-fuelled bender, she was recruited by a cockney dealer named Jake to ‘pick up a package’ in return for payment, and put on a flight to Majorca where she first met Melissa. Once there, she learned for the first time that they would be smuggling cocaine out of Peru in return for a €5,000 payment each.

The pair then travelled separately to Peru.

First they went on a four-day sightseeing trip, at which they were ordered to take pictures to make it seem as if they were on holiday.

But tensions flared on the way back from a trip to Machu Picchu and they had a screaming match on a packed tourist bus.

‘She was scared, really scared,’ admitted Michaella.

Just days later, they were arrested at Jorge Chavez International Airport attempting to board a flight to Spain and spent ten months in Virgen de Fatima prison in Lima, before being transferred to Ancon 2, a desolate institution more than

‘I made a mistake but I don’t deserve to rot in jail for the rest of my life’ ‘Look where dabbling with drugs left me’

two hours’ drive outside the capital. The jail houses up to 700 inmates.

Despite the lighter side of life in prison, she admitted there were dark moments. Michaella steered clear of drugs but cannabis use was rife and some inmates even smoked crack cocaine. Fights also broke out regularly in the block, but Michaella avoided confrontation by keeping her head down.

Now back at home in Dungannon, she plans to start a course in psychology and sociology. But Michaella knows that her experience will always live with her.

However, she wants her story to serve as a warning to other youngsters partying in Ibiza to stop them falling into the same trap as she did.

She said: ‘I thought it was totally innocent just experimenting with drugs on holiday and look where it put me.’