In the case of the United States, the prison population is 1,204,000 people, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Prisons in the United States and Mexico share some characteristics, but they also have great differences for inmates, especially in maximum security prisons.
According to the latest report from (Inegi), Mexico’s prison infrastructure is made up of 317 centers, of which 15 are federal prisons, 251 are state prisons, and 51 are specialized for adolescents.
According to the National Census of the Federal and State Penitentiary System 2022, there are 220,419 people in prison in the country, and 15 percent are in prisons in the State of Mexico.
In the case of the United States, the prison population is 1,204,000 people, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
Various organizations for the protection of human rights have warned that prisoners in Mexico live in overcrowded conditions since the prisons are at maximum capacity. Some prisoners share a cell with more than 15 people.
In addition, there is a lack of adequate medical attention in the prisons and family members must bring food so that the prisoners can eat.
A study by the magazine of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation indicates that Mexican prisons provide fewer and fewer basic items such as clothing, blankets, shoes, and personal hygiene products.
According to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), inside the prisons, prisoners suffer from theft of personal belongings, injuries, extortion, threats and sexual harassment.
A large part of the inmates must pay the guards for having access to drinking water, medicine, bed and shelter.
Prisons in Mexico are administered by the federal government and state administrations, so their resources come from the treasury.
Although they supposedly have signal inhibitors installed, hundreds of cell phones that prisoners use to commit crimes such as extortion have been found in federal and state centers.
Differences between prisons in the United States and those in Mexico
The most secure prison in Mexico is the one on the Altiplano, in the State of Mexico, which has reinforced walls at least one meter thick. In addition, it has security systems such as closed circuit, access control, explosive detectors and presence and telephony sensors.
In addition, airspace and communications within a 10-kilometer radius are restricted. Most Mexican prisons, including the one in the Altiplano, suffer from a lack of guards.
Although it is the most secure prison in the country, drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán managed to escape from it in 2015, in a tunnel that took several months to build.
One of the most secure prisons in the United States is Supermax, nicknamed the Alcatraz of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado. These facilities, where “El Chapo” is now located, have remote-controlled steel doors.
The prisoners are in their cells for 23 hours a day, with the light on all the time, with a concrete bed. The walls are made to prevent communication between inmates and there are no windows.
It also has watchtowers where snipers stand ready to shoot if anyone tries to escape.
In the United States, most prisons are private, and the federal government pays prison owners for each inmate they house.
While security in US prisons is greater, its prisoners suffer the same as in Mexico due to abusive treatment
Mexico Daily Post
