WOLA: Advocacy for Human Rights in the Americas
3 Feb 2018 | Video

Gaby’s Story: Women Incarcerated for Drug Offenses in Mexico

This video is part of a series of short films about women imprisoned for drug offenses in Mexico documents the human cost of current drug policies and the specific conditions by which these laws disproportionately impact women and their families. Most of these women live in poverty, have few economic opportunities, low levels of education, and are single mothers. They are primarily convicted for possessing, selling or transporting small amounts of drugs. They do not occupy positions of power within the drug trade and have not committed violent crimes, yet across the region the number of women incarcerated for drug offenses is increasing at an alarming rate.

This film tells the story of “Gaby,” a single indigenous mother from Oaxaca, who enters the marijuana market to support her family and to pay the medical costs of her son, who has cerebral palsy. She received a 10-year sentence for the crime of transporting marijuana.

This short film was produced by WOLA and EQUIS Justicia para las Mujeres, in collaboration with -Scopio.