Prison Insider: The Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation (Centro Federal de Readaptación Social , CEFERESO) No. 16, in the state of Morelos, is Mexico’s only federal prison for women. In operation since 2016 as a maximum-security facility, it held nearly 1,000 women in 2023. Known as “the cemetery of the living ,” this institution is the subject of growing concern due to the conditions of detention there.

In recent years, more than 20 deaths in detention have been recorded there . Authorities have classified most of these as suicides. Civil society organizations and families have raised the alarm about this wave of deaths, as well as the numerous cases of self-harm, in a context marked by prolonged isolation, lack of medical care, and mass transfers.

Algaraza is an organization that carries out advocacy work and provides targeted support to people facing the criminal justice system, both in prison and outside of it. 
Prison Insider asked three questions to Denisse Rentería, a member of Algaraza.

Read the full interview on Mexico: Cefereso 16, the “cemetery of the living”