Unreported World: Season 2024, Episode 9

2024 - 9: Locked Up in Mexico

Mexico's government says its policy of mandatory pre-trial detention is a vital tool for its war against drug cartels. However, as Darshna Soni discovers, close to 90,000 people are now stuck in limbo behind bars awaiting trial. The measure means that around 40 per cent of Mexico's prisoners haven't been convicted. Soni follows Juan Antonio's efforts to challenge his detention. She goes inside the maximum-security jail which has held him for more than two years and also tracks down a victim of alleged police brutality, who claims she was forced to confess to her husband's kidnapping.