The Women's Prison in Xela

Before I left home I asked my friends to help me collect toiletries to donate to women in need in Xela. My friends are extremely generous and socially conscious and, as a result, I quickly amassed nearly 100 items of soap, shampoo and various body creams. At that time I didn't know if I would be able to visit and or volunteer at either the women's prison or Nuevos Horizontes, the domestic violence shelter. Once I arrived, I was informed that both sites were now requiring a minimum 3/month volunteer commitment which, of course, I could not make. I asked the Director of the ICA Spanish School if he could arrange a 1-day entry to the prison, Enrique was happy to do so. This morning, accompanied by my teacher, Nancy, we walked the approx .75 mile trek to the site. With Enrique's letter of introduction, we entered the facility. It is one of 3 correctional facilities in Xela and the only one for women. Because of this, the facility does double duty as a jail and a prison. Yesterday's head count was 36. I don't know how many were convicted. It was my observation that ages ranged from late teens to mid-50's, and one very young inmate had an infant with her. I learned that incarcerated women are permitted to keep their children with them to age 5, much longer than permitted in US facilities. The prison is actually quite small. It consists of a common area approx the size of a basketball court on the ground level with cells on the second level overlooking the courtyard. The courtyard is open air and there were several clothes lines running across the width of the space. It appeared that the "cells" were simply rooms without any locking mechanisms. There was a single armed guard positioned in this area.
I am getting ahead of myself.I want to write a bit about our initial entry. The warden )if that was her title) was a women in her late 30's (my estimation). I explained the purpose of my visit )with much translation assistance from Nancy) and asked if it would be possible for me to take photos. She quickly denied the request, noting that cameras were strictly prohibited. I recalled Enrique's advice that diplomacy would be needed here. I did some mental math. I had approx 95 items, enough for each woman to have 2-3 small vials of shampoo or bars of soap. I pulled out 3 particularly nice smelling items and gave them to the official. Again I told her that I was a professor of sociology and that my students could learn much from photos. She modified her original position, allowing 2 photos. I reached into the bag and found 2 nice bottles of hand cream and gave these to her. While she didn't say I could take more photos, she inferred that no one would be counting.
The gate opened and Nancy and I entered the courtyard. We explained that we had small gifts for the women. The women pulled over a table and we emptied the contents of my backpack. The women lined up quickly with little discussion. It appeared to me that the internal pecking order was well established and didn't need to be debated. We told them that they could each have 2 items of their choice. The process was remarkably smooth. Because the women could not read English (most were unable to read at all),they would pick up a bottle and ask what it was. A woman with a parrot warned me not to get too close as the parrot bites. I asked if any wanted to have their pictures taken and several volunteered. We left a few minutes later.
On the walk back to school Nancy explained that she could tell that a number of the women were not Guatemalan, but Honduran or El Salvadoran. Their crimes ranged from extortion to robbery to murder, many gang-related.