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Prosecutors: Inmates filmed child pornography in Paraguay prison

By Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Officials are investigating Tacumbu Prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, after inmates filmed child pornography there, officials said.
Officials are investigating Tacumbu Prison in Asuncion, Paraguay, after inmates filmed child pornography there, officials said.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
  • The country's justice ministry says the prison's director has been suspended
  • A prosecutor says inmates found their victims online, then blackmailed them
  • Federal authorities are investigating the prison's management
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(CNN) -- Authorities in Paraguay said they found child pornography on a computer in the country's largest prison -- and suspect it was filmed inside a tiny room there.

The director of the Tacumbu prison has been suspended, the country's justice ministry said in a statement Friday, and federal officials are investigating the management of the facility.

Prosecutors said at least two inmates met their victims on social networking sites, found out information about their families and blackmailed them into coming to the prison. Then, they filmed them.

"The place where they did this was in the prison ... We have been able to confirm that inside, there was a room, a very small space, where they made these films," prosecutor Teresa Sosa said.

Authorities are investigating "all the information in this serious case," the justice ministry's statement said, in order to determine how pornographic materials entered the prison and who was responsible for manipulating them and circulating them.

Officials who work in the prison, which is located in Asuncion -- Paraguay's capital -- will also be investigated, the statement said.

Journalist Sanie Lopez Garelli contributed to this report.