Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Prison boss fired over ex-ruler's luxury cell

Updated at 9:53 pm on 17 March 2010

The governor of a high-security Bolivian prison has been sacked, partly because a former military ruler was allowed to turn his cell into luxury accommodation.

The well-equipped cell of Luis Garcia Meza included a gym and a sauna.

The 81-year-old had also installed a table tennis table, dining room and a barbecue grill in his quarters.

He is serving a 30-year term for abuses dating back to his period in power in the early 1980s.

Investigators searched the jail after several prisoners were injured in a turf war between inmates that involved a grenade attack and a shooting.

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