Child porn ring discovered inside prison

Authorities have broken up a child pornography ring that made sexually explicit films inside Paraguay's national penitentiary, with youths who passed as relatives of inmates.

Prosecutor Teresa Martinez said two inmates and a third person who was on parole were implicated in the ring.

"In two cellblocks there were sets where explicit sex was filmed," she said.

"There were machines and connections to [upload] them to the internet. They had film and digital cameras.

"The actors came and went as relatives of the inmates."

She said there was no way prison officials were not aware of what was going on, and said they were under investigation.

The prison's director was fired, and the justice ministry took control of the penitentiary's operations for 30 days.

"What is scandalous is that this was done inside the penitentiary. They brought the victims into the prison. They abused them and filmed it," Ms Martinez said.

The investigation was launched after two underaged girls and a third who was 19 years old said they were contacted by prison inmates through Facebook and their homes located through Google Earth, the prosecutor said.

"They threatened to kill their mother, rape a sister, hurt their families, after first making contact with them through Facebook and later finding their homes through Google Earth," Ms Martinez said.

The prison's director said computer systems used in the prison were set to block all but educational information, but he acknowledged that inmates could have penetrated the system's security codes.

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