Percentage of Women in Mexican Prisons for Drug Trafficking Higher Than Men Blanca Juarez - La Jornada
go to original August 15, 2015

Mexico Commission on Human Rights Reports Conditions in Women's Prisons 'Deplorable' (TeleSur)

In Mexico the percentage of women in prison for drug-related crimes is higher than that of men, despite the fact that men "predominate in this area", according to a study. The Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM) said that percentage of women imprisoned for drug-related crimes is 80-percent of the female prison population, but the percentage of men imprisoned for drug trafficking is only 57-percent of that population.

At the continental level, 70-percent of prisoners are there for involvement in non-violent micro-trafficking in narcotics. Thus, the incidence of this problem in Mexico exceeds the regional average. Citing data from the Center for Economic Research and Teaching [CIDE], the report Women and Drugs in the Americas, prepared by the CIM in 2014, makes this point clear.

The majority enter drug trafficking activities "at the lowest level, as carriers and small-scale micro-traffickers", so they don't exert leadership in the commercialization process. Concentrated at the lowest links of the chain, "the prizes are few and violence in general is very common."

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

Mexico Voices is a blogging endeavor aimed at raising the awareness of U.S. citizens regarding the destructive impact of the U.S. economic policy and the War on Drugs on Mexico — on its people, their economic and physical security and their human rights, on the nation’s dysfunctional justice system, and on the rule of law and Mexico’s fragile democracy. Visit the website at MexicoVoices.blogspot.mx

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