The Damned: A Journalist Inside Mexico's 'Prison of the Stars' Radio Netherlands
go to original July 5, 2013

Jesús Lemus Barajas is a journalist who spent three years in a high-security prison in Mexico. In Puente Grande, jokingly called 'the prison of the stars'. A place where “they try to break you on the inside and the outside”. (RNW)

Puente Grande, in the state of Jalisco, is home to Mexico’s most dangerous felons. It became a household name when Joaquín Guzmán Loaera, the most wanted drugs trafficker in the world, escaped from the prison that was meant to be the most closely guarded on the continent. Guzmán was in charge of a criminal organisation, operating in more than 30 countries.

And while it was easy for Guzmán to escape, it was also easy for the authorities to unjustly imprison Jesús Lemus. The journalist was accused of being the leader of the Golfo Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Zetas (a violent criminal syndicate) and the Michoacán Family (a drug cartel). An absurd accusation because these groups are mortal enemies and constantly feuding.

Revenge was the reason behind his Lemus’s incarceration. He had to be taught a lesson because of his articles linking local officials to the drugs trade. An armed and masked commando captured Lemus in Michoacán and took him 250 kilometres away to Guanajuato.

After three days of beatings and torture, he was taken to a regular prison for a week before being transferred to Puente Grande. Since the judge considered Lemus to be an extremely dangerous convict, he was held naked for a year in total isolation.

Read the rest at Radio Netherlands

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