Juan 23 La Esperanza: Bringing Hope to a Women’s Prison

Juan 23’s Dr Mendoza and I are making a visit to the national women’s prison.

The last time I was here there were 300 women in a space designed for 80. The septic tank was not working and access to medication was limited leaving the whole area subject to contamination and the spread of disease.

Most of the inmates had been imprisoned for transporting small quantities of drugs to earn a modest fee from traffickers and dealers.

SCIAF funding has enabled the septic tank to be repaired and the prison’s medical centre to be upgraded. It is now stocked with essential equipment and medicines.

With SCIAF’s help, long-term prisoners are being trained to support their fellow inmates, all prisoners are being made aware of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, and some family visits have become possible.

Over this time, changes have also been made to the law on drug possession and the numbers of prisoners has dropped to around 150.

The atmosphere in the prison has improved radically since the repairs to the septic tank. The prison’s medical team tell me that the number of medical emergencies and trips to hospital has also been greatly reduced now that prisoners can receive treatment on site.

In the up-graded medical centre, there is a new mother with her two week old baby. She will be able to stay in this improved medical facility until the prison authorities arrange for her to go home under guard.

As always with Juan 23, alongside practical support there is ongoing lobbying. The organisation is calling on the Nicaraguan government to improve access to health care for vulnerable groups such as these prison inmates.