We were going to produce 105 kg of meth in two years.
I started to inject meth, and it all went bad.
When you're on it, you don't have to sleep or eat or anything.
You just enjoy it.
Drugs find a way in everywhere. That’s just how it is.
The phenomenon of methamphetamine is evil.
Pervitin is certainly the drug in the Czech Republic
that causes the most health, social
and criminal risks surrounding drugs.
We see it in criminal groups that are involved in car theft.
These are often people
who take advantage of the stimulant effects of meth,
and they actually use it when committing criminal acts.
We have been experiencing a transformation in the last five years.
And this lies in the fact that methamphetamine
is being imported on a massive scale into Europe.
They used to catch a ton, a ton and a half a year,
but now, it is about six to seven tons
of seized methamphetamine in Europe.
-It's huge, this place. - Follow my colleague.
So, take off all of your items.
You can take off your other things.
Keep your underwear on for now.
Do you use drugs?
Turn your back towards me and do three squats.
All the way down.
Now spread your arms.
Stick your tongue out at me.
Your tongue up.
All right.
Now lift up your scrotum.
All right. So, get dressed.
It's a thorough search.
Now take this blanket and put all the things inside of it.
If anything were to happen, there is an emergency button on the wall.
You push it, and I will come.
Goodbye.
-Hi, Petr. - Petr.
-Hi, I'm Kuba. - How are you doing?
-Kuba? -Yeah, yeah.
Kuba.
-Hi, Marek. - Marek.
He sleeps here. I sleep here.
Yeah, basically, most of the people are here
because of drugs or alcohol.
They come here to get treated.
So, it’s like, they make you do the cleaning,
so you forget about the drugs.
If you want to do something, you have to work for it.
You have to work on yourself.
But there are also these "good" people, you know?
Like these "hotovci" who walk around and check things.
They act like they are the guards, so they feel like they are above you.
I am Mates.
Yeah, well, I guess the basic rules are
to walk down the hallway dressed up.
Otherwise, no smoking in the cells. That's what the smoking room is for.
If you get caught, you get a disciplinary punishment.
Twice a day, at eight in the morning
and at six in the evening, there's a cell check,
and the cell has to be clean, right?
Also, be careful when you go for lunch,
do not talk to anyone from other wings.
If the guard sees you,
you’ll get a disciplinary notice for unauthorized communication.
That’s just the way it works around here.
If you’re not happy with this, we can take this to the guards’ office,
and you can leave.
If you repeatedly fail to follow the rules
and you get reprimanded by the guards, you might end up in solitary.
Here is the support worker’s room.
They’re here for most of the day.
If you need something, you can come here.
Yes.
Those who are finishing the program are on this side.
When you progress in the program, you get a better room.
Finish.
Yes, I can.
I finished ninth grade in prison
because I had my first sentence as a juvenile.
I just went back to what I knew how to do.
I started selling drugs again.
I started doing the same things again
before they locked me up.
I didn't have time for education, and I didn't even think about it.
When I was released from the previous sentence,
I got married.
Causing serious injury.
From 13 to 18,
then I was out for a year and a half,
and then I was locked up for two and a half years.
My father is a big alcoholic,
and he'd fight with me, he'd fight with my mother.
I'd fight with my classmates a lot.
And it got to a point where they just locked me up.
When they let me out at 18, my dad hanged himself,
and I started to inject Pervitin.
Then I broke a guy’s legs,
and they locked me up again.
When they released me, I really wanted to change my life,
and I got a girlfriend.
I proposed to her.
Then she cheated on me.
So she did it with this one guy, and I beat him up.
Now I've been convicted for harming other people four times.
I like it. You don't think
about the things that happen to you in your life.
That you're sad, you miss your family, and so on.
It’s better for the psyche.
I was kind of an entrepreneur.
My job was to scrap cars ecologically,
so I had a permit to import chemicals
that I was able to buy officially.
We were a group of 24 people,
and we were going to produce 105 kg of meth in two years.
Yes, I supplied them with the chemicals.
A guy was in charge of getting the pills.
And another five cooks
who we were delivering the chemicals and pills to.
And they split it between them.
And I thought if I sold the chemicals,
and because they are also used to make fireworks,
I thought it wouldn't be illegal.
Four million euros.
Now that I am here, I see the people who are here,
that they have lost their families, money, and jobs.
You know the ones that took the bad-quality meth
who have lost their teeth.
We took pride in giving
pure, uncut meth.
Look.
Yeah, drug bag. Yeah.
After breakfast, we have to clean up.
They check if there’s any dust.
Like here, on the top of the doors.
If there's any dust on the chairs, right here on the table,
under the cabinets, if everything is cleaned up.
If beds are made properly.
They check everything.
Then you get a report, and if you get three of them,
you will get a "red mark" and get restrictions.
- These are the hotovci. - Hotovci.
They go and look to check if you have a clean room.
- They're the ones you don't like. - Yes.
If we don't clean the room.
Do you know how to steal oil?
I am good at stealing petrol. I'll show you.
And now with this hand.
-This hand. Okay. - All right. Okay.
Be careful not to suck up the fish.
Now let go.
Every time I start taking drugs,
I start stealing and driving without a driver's license
and running away from the cops.
The same thing over and over.
I haven't had a drug since I got locked up.
I really take it seriously, mainly…
I think mainly because of my family, because of my son,
and because of my girlfriend, who still believes in me,
even though I am just, as my mom would say, incorrigible.
I am behind bars because I got punished for my behavior.
The biggest benefit is that
they really try to help you and they work with you.
Specialists, psychologists, and therapists
take care of each individual here
and solve their specific problems with them.
If you look at the other wings that are here,
drugs are all they know there.
It's there every day.
People are injecting drugs there. They would kill for drugs.
They don’t care about what happens in a week, two weeks.
Or even when they get out. They only care about the now.
Go ahead.
Come on, let's go!
Come on!
- Let's go! - Come on!
Drugs.
Basically, I have tried almost everything.
It's a drug for all purposes.
You don't have to sleep or eat when you are on meth.
Nothing, you just enjoy it.
It’s still stronger than me.
You just can't escape it. When that happens, it happens.
You have to be prepared for the fact
that you will screw everything up again. You will fuck it all up again,
and you have to start all over again.
I use drugs, but I'm not addicted.
I don't know. They are both junkies.
We are Czechs,
and "gingerbread" has sort of a culture here.
It is sad, but that's how it is, isn't it?
Well, that's just our culture.
-Right, Michal? -It is.
The prison won't help us with that,
and we will continue using it.
Those who like it will keep on using it. Why would we lie?
You're finally being honest.
Now we find ourselves on the premises
of a technical school for prison services.
These are the workshops where you will do specialized training.
So this will be your spot.
This one?
So this is the blueprint that we will follow.
Here at this technical school, they can learn the basics of drilling,
welding, and reading blueprints.
That means that they can use this field even outside.
They are qualified for the work.
-Uh, Anthony. -Anthony.
Like this.
-Yeah? -Yeah.
Yeah.
This is my fourth year.
Drugs.
"Drogs."
No. Cooking them. Making them.
Four times.
Drugs as well. "Drogs."
- Drugs. -Cooking drugs again?
Yeah, some. Yeah.
Well, first of all, time flies by faster.
Secondly, you get to see something new. I've never worked in my life.
So for me, this is kind of fun.
Opiates, drugs.
Pervitin, heroin, marijuana.
Is it safe to come in?
Okay.
Hello. Hello.
The dog is actually the most efficient thing we have.
It can find something that we won't find
under an x-ray or somewhere else.
Yes, this mail has arrived today,
but the dog checks it before it goes to another control
and then to the stuff that gives the mail to the prisoners.
The staircase is narrow, so please be careful.
Actually, it's the worst place in prison
a man could go to.
Thirty-two cells.
Most of them are.
Let's take a look at this one.
Come on.
Yes, two prisoners.
The troubled inmates realize they’ve done something wrong.
When they go back to their cell,
to their wing, they’ve learned a lesson.
And they behave themselves.
It really varies. It depends on what the convict has done.
The maximum can be up to 28 days.
Calm down.
Unfortunately, it's not possible at this time.
And if I'm doing it for myself, I can solve these things.
I have the right to be sad, angry, off-balance.
I do have the right to this. A person does have the right to struggle.
But I know that I have the inner strength.
I can rely on it,
and I don't need to drown in alcohol or drugs.
When it comes to alcohol,
I think it can also be a medicine up to a certain point.
That if someone has…
My grandpa used to have a shot of plum brandy every morning.
And he'd be fine, but no. An alcoholic should just…
He shouldn't be drinking. A gambler should not play at all,
and a drug addict should not…
I didn't wanna go near people to have fun, just laugh around. Not that.
I wanted to get drunk, sit at home,
and watch the video from my wedding--
- You were tormenting yourself. -Yeah. I liked it.
I just liked it.
I’ve been here for two-and-a-half years,
and I have four years ahead of me.
There is a chance that after half your sentence,
which in my case means three years, I could ask for a conditional release.
I don't think so.
This is what I'm worried about. I can’t stop myself from using it yet.
Drugs find a way in everywhere. That’s just how it is.
They get absolutely everywhere.
Here in prison, you have the great advantage
of a lot of spare time. Which you can use to better yourself.
This is where the sin ends. This is where the misery fades away.
Before the Word of God is spoken,
if you have a prayer in your heart,
a brief thank you to God, or anything.
Dear God, I would like to thank the priest
that because of him, I have woken, because of him, I have seen God,
and I have believed.
Protect my family, my mother. Protect all the people in the world.
Protect all the people who deserve it.
I love you as my only master. I honor you, God. Amen.
Lord God, Jesus, thank you for every day,
Thank you for all you do for us
and for being here with us. Amen.
It's very empowering.
I'm powerful.
A person is happier when someone loves them.
And the person who doesn't have love doesn't have a family.
We need the love. We are the people. We need the love.
And this, this is the love for me.
We really thank you.
It was an amazing experience for us. We’ll miss you.
You reminded me a lot of what it’s like to be outside.
And I’m really going to be sad.
I think that this is a problem in every prison in the world
because getting a drug into a facility
is much easier than getting through a bigger item.
We try to swab as much as possible, and if somebody uses a drug,
if somebody uses an addictive substance,
and we find out, we usually punish them
with one of the harshest punishments that we can give.
We consider it one of the most serious offenses
that a prisoner can commit.
Well, the regime is set up this way
so the prisoners get used to certain habits.
If they are addicted,
they have to,
in our opinion, just get some self-control.
Learn how to behave,
and they can do that by adhering to the rules.
According to our data,
we can say that out of those
who fully completed the program,
two-thirds never come back.