Fighting for a better life for incarcerated women in Mexico

EQUIS Justice for Women is a feminist organisation that contributes to the exercise of women's human rights in Mexico through strategies for access to justice, advocacy in public policy proposals and the strengthening of leadership to achieve social justice.

Since 2014, this organisation has been focusing on a new issue at the international level and in Mexico: the situation of women imprisoned for drug offences.

Isabel Erreguerena, co-director of EQUIS, told UN News how the organisation began working with women prisoners, realising that the percentage of women in prison for health offences is close to half of the prison population.

"Between 2016 and 2018 we saw an increase of 103% of women deprived of their liberty for crimes against health, and it continues to be the crime with the largest prison population, representing 43%, and we asked ourselves why," she added. 

And when we looked at the censuses, the answer was that most of the women had similar characteristics: they were deprived of liberty for possession for commercial use, which means that they possessed a little more than the amount allowed and they believe that it is for commercial purposes; also most of them are women in vulnerable situations or who are incriminated in some crime.

"We realised that there were no organisations working with women deprived of their liberty", explains Erreguerena, who indicates that they also saw that these women are "first-time offenders", that is to say that this is the first time they have committed a crime. Moreover, they were arrested only for this crime and not for any other; nor were they in possession of weapons.

On the other hand, according to the National Survey of the Population Deprived of Liberty (ENPOL) in Mexico, 41% of the women detained by the Navy were raped, and 21% of those detained by the Army.

Forty-eight per cent of them reported having been tortured and 48.8 per cent of them were physically assaulted before going to the Public Prosecutor's Office, where complaints are filed or detainees are taken. The states with the highest levels of torture are: Michoacán Colima, the State of Mexico, and Aguascalientes.

The same survey also showed that 34% of the people reported having been assaulted by prison guards. While 58% were not informed of the reason for their detention and 65% were not informed of their rights, all of which causes them to be defenceless.

Furthermore, in 68% of the cases the authorities did not show their badge. This analysis finally showed that 43.9% of the persons deprived of their liberty may have been falsely accused or implicated in a crime, yet 10.4% have not been able to prove their innocence.

"For our part, in the qualitative part we interviewed women from Oaxaca and Mexico City, and all the people I interviewed who had been detained for crimes against health, all of them had been sexually tortured, there was not one who did not declare that they had not been."

In 2015, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights updated the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; these contain important guidelines on prison management, including an absolute prohibition on torture and inhuman treatment, as well as clear restrictions on the use of solitary confinement and intrusive searches.

According to the Guidelines for the Treatment of Women Convicted of Custodial, Non-custodial and Women Offenders' Measures, women prisoners who report abuse should be provided with immediate protection and support and their complaint should be investigated by a competent and independent authority, with full respect for the principle of confidentiality.

Protection measures should specifically take into account the risks of retaliation by the person responsible for the abuse.

In addition, inmates who become pregnant as a result of sexual abuse should receive appropriate medical advice and counselling, as well as health support and treatment, including legal aid.

This regulation also specifies that, when searching women prisoners, effective measures should be implemented to ensure that women's dignity is protected during personal searches, and that they should be conducted by trained female prison staff.

Given the high number of women who are arrested for minor drug-related offences, this regulation specifies that, in determining sentencing, courts should have the power to consider mitigating the sentence of women who have committed such offences.

It also says that gender sensitivity should be promoted through women's access to substance abuse treatment programmes in the community to prevent offending, as well as diversity and alternatives to sentencing purposes.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Introductory Guide to the Prevention of Recidivism and the Social Reintegration of Offenders, recidivism rates remain very high among certain groups of offenders. Although global statistics are not available, data from individual countries show high rates of recidivism, reaching 70% or more.

The UNODC points out that criminal justice systems must design and deliver effective social reintegration interventions and programmes to prevent recidivism and to stop the cycle of failed social integration.

In addition, EQUIS studied, analysed, and proposed policies necessary to ensure that the rights of people in detention are fulfilled. They began to work with women who had already been released from prison, creating a network and forming organisations that are fighting for their rights, such as: Mujeres Unidas por la libertad, Lebusol, Mujeres libres México, and Artículo 20.

Isabel Erreguerena told us a little about the process that the women go through once they manage to regain their freedom. The first and main problem they face is that they leave at dawn and without official documents to prove their citizenship.

"Normally it's a bureaucratic hassle that they don't give you an ID, how do you rent something if you don't have it, or ask for a job. Then there is the famous issue of a criminal record which, although it is forbidden, they still ask for it."

EQUIS therefore developed a social justice mechanism to free people who were being unjustly deprived of their liberty because of the failed security policy, a social reinsertion mechanism, and a drug policy based on the right to health.

According to these studies and work, it has been detected that the main difficulties faced by women are to regain a link with society, to have easy access to a job offer, and their mental health, but they usually do not have the economic resources to get treatment or simply do not have the strength.

Good plans and public policies are needed so that people can restart their lives. One could be that they have their official identification (INE) when they leave, and another could be the creation of job banks. According to Isabel, Mexico does not have public policies for social reintegration; the closest thing is the Institute for Social Reinsertion in Mexico City, which is run by the State Public Security Secretariat.

The Institute of Social Reinsertion helps former inmates, but it is only in Mexico City, so EQUIS is calling for it to be replicated in all states, as it believes that public policies are urgently needed so that women who have been deprived of their liberty can find opportunities to reintegrate into society.

This Institute aims to offer preparation and support to people to strengthen their work skills for their employability or self-employment, which will help them to achieve their life project, through introductory training to create a micro or small family business project so that they can become self-employed and have an economic income.

This programme also offers financial support so that they can support themselves while they are employed or self-employed and begin their social reintegration process.

For all this, the actions proposed by EQUIS include the application of alternative measures to imprisonment, in the case of pregnant women and mothers who have been accused of minor, non-violent offences, such as:

• work in favour of the community,
• undergoing detoxification treatment in the case of dependent use of psychoactive substances
• to present themselves for signature before an authority
• paying a fine
• a verbal warning

It also proposes the participation of women, girls and civil society in the elaboration and implementation of drug policies.