Although indigenous peoples in Guatemala represent 43.75% of the population, indigenous trials, corresponding to the Mayan cosmovision, based on conciliation instead of punishment, are not legitimized by the constitution of this country. Guatemalan indigenous women must contend with a criminal justice system governed by Western norms and run by men. One of the main reasons for the conviction of these women is patricide. These women suffer years of gender violence from their husbands, whom they end up murdering. Monolingualism in Spanish increases the violation of their Human Rights, from arrests and criminal proceedings they do not understand to their admission to the detention center.

Once convicted, many of these women are abandoned by their community and family. But to survive this experience, they need help from the outside because they have to pay for essential living supplies, such as water, which in the COF women's prison comes twice a day for a few minutes.

The deficiencies are aggravated by an overcrowded prison system, with 993 women living in the COF women's prison, with an overcrowding rate of 758%. 2022 was the year of arbitrary arrests of members of the International Commission Against Impunity (CICIG), a United Nations agency that, between 2014 and 2019, dismantled more than 50 corruption structures. The women prosecutors and lawyers who worked for this function were detained under a case that, according to the government, is under "reserve."

Yet, the most complex dimension of this gendered prison experience is motherhood. In Guatemala, the average age is between 18 and 36 years old: female heads of households, women in their most productive age, and mothers with an average of three children leave society. There is no prior psychological preparation for separating from their children once they turn four. This alienated motherhood affects their children and their entire family constellation.