Julie Turkewitz

You will leave here only in a body bag.

So the men are divided into cell blocks, approximately 10 men in each cell.

They are given bunk beds, metal, most often without any kinds of mattress or sheet.

The water is a sort of open cistern.

They're supposed to use that water to drink as well as to bathe.

They also say that they are consistently denied medical care.

There is one man named Aldo Colmenares who comes into the prison with diabetes.

He tells officials there he has diabetes and needs insulin.

He said that he was denied insulin for five days.

He's eventually given the wrong kind of insulin, which leads to hypoglycemia and to attacks that lead him to pass out.

there is a young man who becomes very very sick to the point where the other inmates are bringing food and water to his lips with their hands and he's eventually sent to an infirmary where he says that a doctor told him he should just resign himself it is time to die that's stunning

And for the most part, what these men speak about is just constant physical abuse.

This means beatings.

Many of the men spoke about a position they called the grua position, the crane position.

They were forced to kneel for hours and handcuffed behind their backs and then at times lifted by the handcuffs to put pressure on their shoulders and backs and sometimes also stomped on their feet and hands while in this position.

This abuse goes on for months.

And they talk about getting to points of extreme psychological desperation.

And one day, they sort of start to crack.

And they decide that they're going to stop eating and ask for better treatment.

And they decide that they want to write their messages.