After the extermination of 81 prisoners in the San Miguel prison in 2010, the State decides to set the facility up exclusively for women prisoners. The painted ramparts and the woman guards never change the meaning of the prison: the extermination of the prisoners.
Tower 5 was the place where years ago smoke and fire burned in the crematorium ovens of democracy. On January 29, 2022 in that same place, Milena Cartes (50 years old), a prisoner for several months awaiting trial, suffered severe abdominal pains. After days of asking for medical attention and the apathy of the jailers, her situation began to worsen drastically. Her fellow prisoners protested for her to be taken to the doctor, but the guards took her to the prison hospital. Due to the seriousness of her situation, she was transferred urgently to the Barros Luco Hospital.
Milena Cartes died – in prison? in the prison hospital? in the Barros Luco Hospital? Although the moment of her death is not clear, we do know who is responsible for this murder: the State, the prison and the jailers.
Her fellow prisoners respond in the only meaningful way: riots, assaults against the jailers and an attempt to riot in the tower. The women jailers respond the only way they know how: pepper spray and water to quell tempers.
Outside the prison, family members and those in solidarity gathered to demonstrate against the gendarmerie and their murderous negligence.
