Recycling has sparked a phenomenal turnaround in Panama’s largest prison. It is a story that is both so practical and inspiring that it has been replicated in four other prisons in Panama, and the authorities in Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Peru, Colombia and Nicaragua also are interested in the idea.

It began after Franklin Ayón, an agronomist and a recycling expert, was sentenced for drug trafficking in 2012 and sent to La Joyita prison, just outside Panama City. Filthy, overcrowded and dangerous, it was known as the “stomach of the beast”. Prisoners literally lived on top of rubbish in the prison, which accommodated 4,000 prisoners.