A guide to visiting a Mexican Prison. Based on my experiences of visting the state prison of Guerrero.
I encourage everyone to visit a prison especially when traveling abroad. When I was much younger my father took me to a Thai prison. We didn’t know who we were going to visit and when the prison asked who we wanted to visit my father said “the Americans”. Can you imagine being a prisioner in a foregin country? It is nice to see someone who speaks your language, even if it is a stranger…at least someone cares. So, if you are traveling in Mexico and would like to visit some of my friends who are in prison please contact me and I will give you some contact information.
(Based on Tuxpan, all prisons are different)
BEFORE GOING TO THE PRISON
Find out what you can wear:
In El Cereso de Tuxpan visitors are not allowed to wear black, navy blue, khaki, or white shirts and pants unless they have images and/or text on them. For example if you wear a white t-shirt with a large logo on it this is usually acceptable. Blue Jeans are acceptable.
Shorts are not permisable. Women are allowed to wear skirts and dresses as long as the hem reachs past the knee. Shirts must have at least short-sleeves, no tank-tops.
Shoes with a lift or heals are not permitted for either men or women. That said the rules on what you can wear will be more lax depending on the secretary working the front desk.
I reccommend you wear shorts until you get to Tuxpan and then once you get there change into the “appropriate” clothing. The reason for this is that the heat in Tuxpan is so unbearable, I prefer to wear shorts and then once I get to the prison I switch into jeans.
Facial piercings are sometimes not allowed. I was once asked to remove my nose ring, I told them I couldn’t that it was stuck so they let me go in with it. Cell phones and cameras are not permitted in the prison. There is a photographer in the prison who will come and take pictures for you but it will usually take him about a week to get the pictures developed.
Find out visiting days and times:
Cereso de Tuxpan’s visiting days are Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 9:00am to 3:30pm. However, if you do stop by on a non-visiting day, the prisoner you are visiting may ask for special premission to allow you to come in to the foyer. If you go on a non-visiting day “dressed-up” you can pretend to be an attorney or human rights worker and they will let you in to see the prisoner.
Bring Identification:
Do not take your passport. Rules state that non-citizens must show a passport or copy of a passport in order to enter. I’ve only once had them try to refuse entry because I didn’t have my passport, I promised that the next time I came I would bring it and of course I never did. Take your drivers license or school ID or a copy of your passport. Take something that you wouldn’t mind losing. I have never had or heard of anyone having their ID stolen but it isn’t worth taking the chance.
Take a gift: Toiletries are great and always appreciated. Things like deoderant, disposable razors, sun block, lotion, shampoo, toothpaste, are all good.
Foods are also good; fresh fruit, hamburger meat, and snack bars.
Comic books, magazines, CD’s, cassette tapes make good small gifts.
ONCE YOU GET THERE:
You will walk in and find two gossipy secretaries and occassionally a male secreteary to supervise the women. You will hand the secretary your identification. If you are like all other gringos you only have one last name on your ID, the secretary will ask you your “other last name”. No matter how much you insist that you don’t have one and that we don’t use any other last names, the secretary will continue to insist you give her another last name. At some point she will inevitable ask you if you “have no mother” since you don’t have a maternal last name. Go ahead and give them your mother’s maiden name or any name for that matter since they can’t verify it. When I went with my friend Preston they never asked him because they kept assuming his middle name was one of his last names.
The secreteray will then ask you who you are there to visit and your relationship to the prisoner.
If you are going to visit the prison more than once, you might want to take two passport size photos. The secretaries will make you a prison ID with these photos. I think these are great souviners. You won’t be able to pick up your prison ID until your next visit.
Once the Secretaries have taken your ID, written down your name, written down what you look like and what you are wearing, and who you are visiting, they will give you a small wooden square with a number on it. Hold on to this wooden square you will need it to leave the prison.
The secretaries well then move you on to a table with a male and female guard standing behind the table. Put any goods you brought to give to the prisoner, on the table. The guards will either take the goods and deliver them to the prisoner or they will hand them back to you after you’ve been frisked, for you to give them to the prisoner. The guards will only keep electronics, medicines and some fluids to be checked by the warden before being given to the prisoner. All other things you will be allowed to carry in yourself.
Once your goods have been looked over, the guards will send you into a tiny cement block room. In this room you will see backpacks and purses and keys. You are not allowed to take in any of the latter items into the prison. Do NOT take valuable items with you to the prison. No one keeps an eye on the things in this room. I’ve left digital camaras before and they’ve been just fine but don’t take the risk. Hang your keys up put any bags you have along the side of the wall.
The guard will now frisk you. Depending on who is doing the frisking they will either do a slightly inadequate job or a very inadequate job. I once went to the prison with a “friend” who forgot he had cocaine on him. The guards never found the coke and he didn’t realize he had it until we were well on our way home.
Once the frisking process is over the guard will open the door of the room and hand you any items that you are allowed to give to the inmate.
From here you will walk about 10 steps to a large gate with another guard standing at the entrance behind a small table. Show the guard your wooden square and place your right hand on the table. The guard will stamp your hand with an ink that is only visible under a black light. He will then open the gate. Walk through this gate and pass anywhere from 2 to 5 guards who might ask you who you are visiting. Then you will reach another gate guarded by two guards. They will ask you the number on your wooden square and write it down; they will then open the final gate. You are now inside the prison. It won’t look to much different then the outside world. Everyone is in street clothing. The men sitting down next to the gate are waiting for family members to arrive. The people standing near the phones are waiting for incoming calls. If you’ve never been to the prison before ask one of the guards to have another inmate locate the person you want to visit. If you have been to the prison before go ahead and try looking for the inmate yourself. For example when I arrive at the prison to see my friend, I walk first to his workspace, if he isn’t there I walk over to the basketball court, if he isn’t there I go to the workspace of one of his friends and ask them to check the cell rooms and showers for me. Rarely however, do I not find him in his workspace and usually by the time I get to his workspace I’ve already run into a couple of his buddies who greet me and then take off looking for him to let him know that I have arrived. Occasionally, when I go to visit my friend Bombo, rumor has spread that I have arrived before I can even make it completly into the prison. When this happens my friend, Bombo, is usually waiting for me at the front gate or has one of his buddies waiting to escort me to wherever he may be.
INSIDE THE PRSION
Ask the person you are visiting to give you a tour. The Tuxpan prison is a very nice prison as far as prisons go. It somewhat reminds me of Mexican water-park but without the water. There are nice grassy areas, and beautiful trees. There is a basketball court, a gym, a nice church, a bakery, little food stands, mini-convenient stores.
Working in the Prison
Most inmates choose to work while in the prison. For example my friend makes silver string that is used in making expensive belts. Some inmates weave hammocks, others make purses, shoes, paintings, silver jewelry, or anything else that they may have known how to make before entering the prison or something they learned while there.
Workshops
A few inmates are given space to build workshops. The space where the picture of us was taken was in Bombo and Rene’s workspace. They use the space for making the silver thread but they also have a stove, a refrigerator, a dining table, a play station and a bookcase. This is their space to control and do with as they please. Right outside of their workspace they’ve also planted a vegetable garden. Those who have workspaces spend most of their days in their workspace. Those who don’t have a workspace try to make friends who do have one.
Cells
At 8:30pm every night, they are locked in their cells. They are allowed out of their cells at 6am. While I have never seen the cells (women aren’t allowed in the men’s cells) I am told that they look a lot like crappy dorm rooms but with cement blocks for beds and thin mattresses on the cement blocks. The women’s cells supposedly have only four people to a room instead of six and also have closets for the women to store their clothing.
Sports
The Tuxpan prison has sports teams (volleyball, basketball, and soccer). The teams play in leagues against teams from the nearby city of Iguala. The teams from outside the prison come and play the prison team. If the prison team makes it to the finals, the finals are held inside the prison. If you yourself would like to play volleyball, basketball or soccer with the inmates, bring an extra pair of clothes for playing. The inmates love having new people to play against.
Conjugal Visits
From what I understand all Mexican prisons permit conjugal visits. In order to get a conjugal visit in Tuxpan the inmate must not have any STDs and supposedly be married to the person they are going to “have a visit with, but as with most things in Mexico and in prison if you know the right people you can get around the rule of having to be married. Conjugal visits are held in rooms that are set-up like a hotel. Each room has a number above it and each room has a bed (not sure if it is on a cement slab or not) and a full bathroom.
Bathrooms
I don’t think they have toilets that flush. At least I’ve never seen any. If you do use the bathrooms here, it will cost you three pesos, and you will be handed a small amount of toilet paper. Do your business, use all that toilet paper (you paid for it!), throw the paper in a trash can next to the toilet, then take a bucket of water (provided outside of the stall) and dump the bucket of water down the toilet.
LEAVING THE PRISON
Make sure you have your wooden square. Upon leaving the first gate the secretaries who took your Identification will return it to you along with a small piece of paper with your name and physical description on the paper. You will now pass 4-7 guards, hand them your ID and the piece of paper. They will ask you your name and the name of the person you visited, and your relationship to the inmate (go ahead and say friend). Guard number five-or-so will ask you to stick your hand into a black box. The guard will then look through a peep hole and see if your hand is stamped. Once you leave the prison you will go back into that room where you left your keys, either change back into your shorts here or in a bathroom next to this room. Don’t forget anything. If you drove to the prison your car will still be waiting. If you took a cab, you can call for one to pick you up, you can approach a cab and ask him to call one for you, or you can take a mini-bus that passes every half-hour and takes people back to downtown Iguala. If you are concerned about what to do, go ahead and ask the families leaving the prison, some of them might even offer you a ride back to town. DO NOT take a ride from anyone with an expensive car. If you see a Mercedes Benz or a luxury sports car, or a decked out suburban, chances are good that this “visitor”is a big time drug dealer. He doesn’t want to mess with you and you don’t want to mess with him.