SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia — Pope Francis wrapped up his pilgrimage to Bolivia with a visit Friday to its notoriously violent and overcrowded Palmasola prison, where inmates have the run of the place, drugs are cheaper than on the street and money buys survival.

Francis arrived and immediately began greeting inmates one by one, clasping their hands and kissing their children. The elderly and infirm had places of honor among the prisoners, who waved yellow and white balloons, the colors of the Holy See.

Francis has frequently spoken out about the plight of prisoners, denouncing the widespread abuse of pre-trial detention and calling life sentences a “hidden death penalty.” He has met with prisoners to offer them words of encouragement, and even as pope continued to regularly call a group of Argentine inmates he ministered to when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.

Palmasola is the most notorious of Bolivia’s 32 prisons, built to detain some 800 people but housing 5,000, more than four in five still awaiting trial. Two years ago, 36 people died in a fierce battle between rival gangs using machetes and homemade flamethrowers. One of the victims was a 1-year-old.