By recognizing that the sexual torture or mistreatment are common practices when a woman is detained in Mexico, the Secretary of the Interior (Segob) said they had identified that seven out of 10 incarcerated women suffered violence during their detention process, while 3 out of 10 experienced sexual torture at the time of their arrest.
When presenting the first National Diagnosis on Sexual Torture Committed against Women Deprived of Liberty in Mexico, the federal government recognized the complex condition that women women face when they are involved in criminal acts, since they identified that the social, economic and cultural conditions they face prior to their arrest, coupled with the fact that many of them do not have economic solvency, are not taken seriously by their defenders and in the penitentiary centers.
After interviewing 1,280 women deprived of liberty in 66 prisons distributed in the 32 entities of the republic, this national diagnosis identified that at the national level there are still deficiencies for the prevention, punishment and eradication of sexual torture committed against women, since the information collected indicates that 79.3% of the women interviewed indicated that they had experienced torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, during their arrest, transfer to the Public Ministry, stay in the Public Ministry, settlement, transfer and stay in the penitentiary center, including health services.
Likewise, 32.19% of all women reported having suffered sexual torture in at least one stage of their process and some reported that, at the time of being detained in the presence of their sons and daughters, state agents employ them to coerce women in order to confess or sign incriminating documents.
In other words, women are not only subjected to acts of torture and violence during the detention processes, but also, being in a state of vulnerability before the arresting agents, makes it easier for other types of violations to be committed, both directly and indirectly, against their relatives. At the same time, they are coerced into carrying out activities of a sexual nature, by means of death threats against their sons and daughters.
And it is that the figures indicate that those women who suffered violence or torture during their detention, 40% pointed to the investigative police as the perpetrator, in addition to 21% to the municipal police and 16% to the state police, who also committed other types of abuse of authority, such as profiting from the belongings of detained women.
Likewise, some women were said to be pregnant at the time of their arrest and when they experienced sexual torture, the threats to interrupt their pregnancy were constant and in some cases there was an abortion as a result of torture.
It should be noted that, in cases where women are detained with their partners, the women’s body is used as an instrument of coercion to force their companions to plead guilty.
“I was arrested on November 24, 2010 by unidentifiable persons, more than 10 men and three women; one of them participated, witnessed and videotaped the acts of sexual torture. I was taken to an unknown place, where I stayed for a short time, then they took me to c4 and in the bathrooms I was gang raped, they urinated on me, they put a firearm in my mouth, vagina and anus; I received electric shocks in my genitals and they dislocated my left arm”, says one of the interviewees.
Meanwhile, it was highlighted that from the analysis of the information provided during the interviews, it is presumed that 11.64% experienced acts of sexual torture without having recognized it as such, because from the catalog of violence to which they were subjected, the presence of sexual violence was detected as a constant.
And it is that victims often do not consider verbal aggression, stripping, touching, obscene or humiliating acts or blows or electric shocks to the genitals as sexual assault and it is very common for victims to say nothing or even deny have suffered it.
It was also said that in some of the cases they state that the sexual torture could have been more severe, however it was interrupted due to external causes, notwithstanding, the intention of instilling fear on the part of public servants of being subjected to any act of sexual violence increased psychological terror.
In this context, it was identified that 43.82% of the women who underwent acts of torture, were with connotations of a sexual nature in order to humiliate and punish them for being women. While 23.59% experienced cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and 20.70% did not report having experienced any type of violence.
The sexual assaults mentioned are: fondling, forcibly undressing, inflicting blows on breasts or genitals; oral, vaginal or anal rape; Threatening to commit rape or inserting objects into their cavities.
According to National Diagnosis28% were attacked with kicks, 18% groped, 16% were victims of blows to the breasts, buttocks and genitals, and 3.5% were raped.
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