"El Infierno del Sur" (The Hell of the South), the violent fight conducted to control "Hell" prison

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat from La Silla Rota

"Ya ni te pares, guey, ya te cargo"........ 

(Don't bother getting up, you're done for.)

Crime Mexico City:  "El Infierno del Sur" (The Hell of the South), this is how control of the prison is fought over. In the "Infierno del Sur" where punishment and vengeance are executed with cruelty, the privileges and basic necessities have a cost.

top left to right Ramos, El Benja, El Tanque, El Kike

Translated by "Cruz" for Borderland Beat

Prison of the South  (Special)

Francisco Ramos had been sentenced for murder but was unable to complete his sentence because he was murdered on the night of July 2nd, 2010 in the "Infierno del Sur"

Case file 216/2010 indicates that that night, he was resting in his dorm, block 12, zone 4 of the South Prison. (Reclusorio Sur)

When all of a sudden the cell door opened and 5 men barged in. Leading the group was Enrique Ismael Trujillo Vazquez "El Kike", who was serving eleven years for aggravated homicide and attempted robbery.

"Ya ni te pares, guey, ya te cargo" (Don't bother getting up, you're done for.) Was what Francisco Ramos heard them say. He was alongside his cellmate who kept out of what was going on despite Francisco's cries for help.

"El Kike" beat Francisco repeatedly with a metal rod while at the same time the other inmates did their own thing with kicks and punches.

"Don Rojas sent us because you do not want to do the "fajina"(doing the dirtiest form of work, sometimes done naked, in ladies lingerie  or with tiny rags, mopping floors, cleaning etc), said "El Kike", but Francisco wasn't able to respond.

The walls were covered in Francisco's blood; as was the victim's cellmate.

The metal rod that was used to hit the victim over the head laid there embedded in his right leg.

All of this was done on orders of Rogelio Bernal Olvera "Don Rojas", who imposed the rank of "fajina" to the affected party. Which is the rank given to someone who is tasked to do the most degrading cleaning possible, naked or small rags used to clean the toilets and dorms.

According to the case file, "Don Rojas"  held control of the fees that the inmates had to pay and if they didn´t do it, they were forced to work.

After 11 months had passed, the State Prosecutor's Office obtained sentences of 27 years of prison for this crime, but the person that headed it, Enrique Ismael Trujillo Vazquez, gained power: he is now the shot caller of "Infierno del Sur".

"El Rebote" (the rebound)

The vengeance ordered out of Reclusorio Sur have a nickname for the people that consummate them: "El Rebote".

That is what a criminal group called themselves, lead by Enrique Ismael Trujillo Vazquez "El Kike", and made up of several inmates that are against Luis Eusebio Duque Reyes "El Duke"(the duke), an ex-preventative officer, associate of the Juarez and Jalisco Cartel Nueva Generacion, who La Silla Rota reported, had gained his freedom in June of 2017.

According to a report by the Secretary of Public Safety (SSP), elaborated in May of this year, el "Infierno del Sur" is under the control of Gilberto Rodriguez Hernandez "El Erwin", incarcerated since 2013 for robbery, according to entry 2302/RS/2013.

His henchmen are Jose Benjamin Garcia Jaramillo "El Benja", who has been incarcerated for robbery since 2016; Brandon Perez Flores "El Boss", also incarcerated since 2016, Antonio Othon Juarez, since 2006 and Uriel Martinez Hernandez "El Tanque"(tank), since 2011.

Othon Juarez serves as the link with criminals that are on the outside and "El Tanque" as "tax" collector and the person that does the beatings.

All of them receive orders from "El Kike", who according to the entry 155/2018, was transferred to the high-security module "El Diamante (the diamond), located in Ceresova (Men's Social Readaptation Center) installation located in Santa Martha Acatitla, Iztapalapa.

This group of criminal is charged with shooting at 3 correction officers of "El Diamante" on may 29th, 2018, at a convenience store in Iztapalapa, mentioned in the case file FIZP/IZP-5/UI-3C/D/1064/05-2018.

They are also accused of making threats towards Antonio Hazel Ruiz, undersecretary if of the Capitals Penitentiary System and at Pablo Lopez Jaramillo, executive director of Penitentiary Security.

Fees and the Monsters

In "Infierno del Sur" everything has a price. Not only the privileges, like having a cellular phone or a television, also the basic needs like drinkable water, using the toilets and not sleeping on your feet.

The SSP, PGJCDMX (Capitals Prosecutor's Office), and the undersecretary of the Penitentiary System revealed that the fee for gifts es ran by "El Kike and "El Erwin", but their conflict against "El Duke" has caused chaos and the creation of new subgroups.

One of those groups is "Los Monstruos" (the monsters), inmates with no economical means to cover fees and that were forgotten by their families, but do makeup in size and they are adept to violence, because of this they are rented out as bodyguards 24/7.

The characteristics of "Infierno del Sur", made the location ideal for "Los Monstruos", who charge between 150 and 250 pesos daily plus meals for their services.

Based on official data from the Undersecretary of the Penitentiary System, el Reclusorio Sur located in Xochimilco was inaugurated in 1979, is on 152,056 meters squared.

It has an overpopulation of 655, after being at max capacity of 3,556 spaces or useable beds with a little over 8,600 inmates.

The days when the Reclusorio Sur was known as the prison for all the rich and snobby has long since passed. It was called this because it housed for the most part famous and rich prisoners like Archivaldo Ivan Guzman Salazar, son of the drug trafficker Joaquin "El Chapo Guzman" or Alfredo Rios Galeana, considered at that time as Mexico´s number one enemy.

The INEGI(National Institute of Statistics and Geography) concluded in their latest report statistics about the State Penitentiary System in Mexico, that Mexico City is the 9th entity with overpopulation in its jails.