Sorority inside and outside as a means of survival and resistance: Experiences of women imprisoned in Mexico

This article tells the stories of two formerly imprisoned women with recent experiences in a Mexican prison. As Marthita’s and Ana’s accounts demonstrate failures of Mexico’s neoliberal prison, which continues to operate according to the logic of the ‘coloniality of power’ in which women are made more vulnerable according to their position on colonial racial hierarchies. They not only find themselves subjected to discrimination and sometimes physical abuse, but also — more than some of their (white) male counterparts — face glaring deficiencies in provision, including food and personal hygiene products. The gaps left by what has been described as Mexico’s ‘failed democracy’ and an ‘absent state’, have to be filled to ensure physical, psychological, and social survival. This article explores the consequences of the ‘absent state’ from the perspectives of women who have struggled and fought — and continue to struggle and fight — to create livelihoods, wellbeing, and community through sorority.