Drug Smuggler wins beauty pageant
This is wrong on so many levels:
Drug Smuggler Crowned Miss Penitentiary
SAO PAULO, Brazil - South America's latest beauty queen won't be campaigning abroad for world peace any time soon, unless, of course, she's granted early parole.
Angelica Mazua, a statuesque Angolan serving five years on international drug smuggling charges, on Thursday was voted Miss Penitentiary 2005 after a six-hour contest pitting 40 women inmates from 10 prisons around Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo.
This is the second year for the event in Brazil. The contestants come from all walks of life:
The women, serving sentences for crimes from armed robbery to drug trafficking, were vying to be named Miss Penitentiary 2005 — a title that brings a $160 prize and a break from dreary routine.
Although it seems to me that an unintended side effect might be the glorification of criminals, the prison system thought up the idea to boost self-esteem:
Prison officials came up with the idea of a beauty contest last year as a way of trying to boost inmates' self-confidence. Judges include celebrities, soccer players and journalists, and there are prizes in three other categories, writing, public speaking and congeniality.
I wonder how a murderess or an armed robber prepares for "miss congeniality"?
