The prison emergency in Ecuador, which has left 482 deaths in the last two years, has profound consequences for people deprived of liberty and their families. According to official data, the prison population is made up of 92% men and 8% women. This means there are more than 2,000 women in prisons, but there is a lack of information about how they live.
What is motherhood, pregnancy, and breastfeeding like for them? How many of them are living with their kids inside prisons?
Women who live inside prisons also face mental health consequences due to lack of attention, violence, and abandonment. What are their most common illnesses? What treatments do they receive? How does that affect their reintegration?
Moreover, trans women are condemned to live among men. For this reason, Helen Maldonado was murdered during the massacre at the Litoral Penitentiary on November 12, 2021. But there are no real policies that protect the LGBTI population in prison, specifically trans women.
Finally, the Ecuadorian government has not responded efficiently to the families of the people killed in the massacres; the relatives looking for justice are mainly women. They demand reparation, not only because of the deep psychological consequences they are facing, but also because they are now their families' sole breadwinners after the death of their husbands or sons.
This investigation seeks to make visible these realities neglected by the Ecuadorian government.
