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August 5, 2016  |  By Douglas Keillor In News

In September her baby boy turns one…

Alejandra smiled when I sat down at her table to talk with her. I met her for the first time two months ago. Today she was reading in the common area of the girlGirl in prison reading‘s cell block. It was a book of poems. Alejandra likes poetry and sometimes writes her own poems. We spoke for a while. Alejandra has been in the juvenile prison in Chihuahua for five months. Her trial was last week. She received probation and her release is next week. She is mostly excited because her baby boy turns one in September. If everything goes well, Alejandra will be with her baby and the rest of her family for his first birthday. But I am left wondering why was she in pretrial detention for five months. If the judge thought she didn’t deserve a prison sentence, only probation, what could have justified pretrial detention.

Sitting next to Alejandra was Rosi. Rosi is 16 years-old. She was with a group that broke into a house and robbed it. They were caught and returned everything. In Mexico, the crime victim has the right to oppose any plea bargain. In Rosi’s case the victim demanded thousands of pesos in restitution before he would agree to a plea bargain. All of Rosi’s co-defendants have paid restitution, $10,000-$20,000, and are now free on probation. Rosi has to put together $5,000 pesos. She doesn’t know if her mom has the money. Until then Rosi will wait in pretrial detention.

In the room next door was Julieta. Her defense attorney tells her that next month she will probably be sentenced to probation. Julieta was arrested with under a gram of methamphetamine. Northern Mexico is suffering from an epidemic of meth – its cheap, its made in Mexico, and its powerfully addictive. Julieta, like the other girls has high hopes that she will be released soon and get a second chance.

Two-thirds of teens in pretrial detention will be sentenced to probation. They spend an average of 5 months in pretrial detention awaiting a resolution. Most, like Alejandra, Rosi and Julieta, will only be detained while they wait for the slow wheels of the justice system to turn. The Mexican Constitution tells them that they are presumed innocent.  Once they are proved guilty, they are released. Que locura…

Chihuahua Children In Prison Girls in Prison pretrial detention
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Guerrero

Los adolescentes en el sistema de justicia en Guerrero requieren de gran apoyo, servicios y protección del crimen organizado, por lo que nuestro trabajo se realiza bajo un nivel considerable de inseguridad pública. Somos la única A.C. trabajando para ayudar al gobierno para que los adolescentes tengan una verdadera segunda oportunidad.

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CDMX

Vista como líder nacional en las prácticas del sistema de justicia, la Ciudad de México tiene más adolescentes en detención que cualquier otra jurisdicción. Sin embargo, también ha desarrollado una unidad de seguimiento en libertad con numerosas alianzas con organizaciones. Nuestros proyectos fortalecerán esta área crítica.

JJI está trabajando en la Ciudad de México desde dos vertientes. En Alternativas a la Detención con un monitoreo que comenzó en 2019, pero por causas sanitarias y la pandemia por COVID, se retomó dos años después con un equipo de especialistas el cual ya está preparándose para continuar la actividad. En Movilizando voluntarios, se continúa con los esfuerzos para reunir a más adolescentes con sus familias, gracias al apoyo: “Reunificación familiar”. Así como también se han realizado entrega de enseres en los 6 centros.

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Durango

A pesar de tener un número menor de adolescentes en el sistema de justicia, Durango es una jurisdicción que busca la mejora continua. Durango es el primer estado donde tanto el poder judicial como el ejecutivo han firmado convenios de colaboración para la implementación de nuestros proyectos de Alternativas a la Detención.

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Chihuahua

Chihuahua es nuestro sitio piloto y un estado considerado líder en la reforma penal en México. Nuestros proyectos comenzaron en el 2016. Desde entonces, los tiempos en detención preventiva han disminuido, los adolescentes son supervisados con mayor eficiencia en sus comunidades y se ha mejorado la calidad de vida de aquellos adolescentes que siguen privados de su libertad.

En Chihuahua trabajamos con varios proyectos, como son el monitoreo que se trabaja en conjunto con la autoridad, y con los adolescentes y sus familias trabajamos en talleres, mesas de trabajo, eventos lúdicos, acompañamiento post penal, reubicaciones y traslados de familiares para audiencias y visitas, así como donaciones de enseres, ropa y material deportivo.

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Chiapas

Ante la apertura de los operadores del sistema de justicia para adolescentes del estado de Chiapas, a partir del mes de diciembre del año 2020 se tuvo acercamiento con los operadores que encabezan el Sistema de Justicia Penal para Adolescentes en el Estado de Chiapas, con el fin de coadyuvar en dicho sistema y en pro de todas las personas adolescentes Chiapanecos en conflicto con la ley. Tanto que el día 26 de abril del 2021, JJI realizó la presentación de proyectos ante los operadores del sistema penal para adolescentes en la Sala de Presidentes del Poder Judicial del Estado de Chiapas teniendo una respuesta de interés de los presentes.


En el tenor del desarrollo de la relación institucional JJI continuó aportando varias donaciones a los Centros de Internamiento Especializados para Adolescentes ubicados en los Municipios de Berriozábal ”Villa Crisol” y Mazatán “Zona Costa” del Estado de Chiapas, ha entregado Kit de enseres, insumos para la prevención del Virus SARS-CoV-2, canastas básicas conformados por alimentos y artículos de limpieza e higiene personal.

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Chihuahua

A national leader in criminal procedural reforms, our pilot project in Chihuahua started in 2016. Since that time the rates and duration of pretrial detention have declined, youth are being successfully supervised in their communities and new programs in the detention center have improved daily life for those children still deprived of liberty.

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Guerrero

Working under the shadow of significant public insecurity, the youth in Guerrero’s justice system are in dire need of support, services and protection from organized crime. We are one of the only nonprofits working to help the government and youth in detention get a second chance.

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CDMX

Looked to as the national leader in youth justice practices, Mexico City has more youth in detention than any other jurisdiction but has also developed a robust probation office and numerous alliances with nonprofits. Our projects will further fortify this critical work.

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Durango

Despite being a smaller jurisdiction, Durango is constantly looking to improve. Durango is the first state where both the Executive Branch and Judicial Branch have signed Memorandum of Understanding to launch the Alternatives to Detention initiatives.

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Chiapas

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