La Visita by Carloman Macidiano Céspedes Riojas

‘Don't bring anything, I just want you to come and visit me’ is one of the phrases most repeated by the inmates of Picsi prison, located in the city of Chiclayo in northern Peru. But many visitors do not want to arrive empty-handed, despite the strict controls.

Guisella D explains how ‘I get up at five in the morning to cook fried fish with cassava, which is one of my husband’s favourite dishes. Then I go to the market to buy permitted fruits like bananas and oranges, and by six in the morning I am in the queue to enter the prison. Sometimes it is stressful: the lines are endless and the murderous sun and the earth ruin your skin. The only consolation is to arrive and meet my partner again. Then you forget about the shameful controls, and the sun, until next Sunday’.

These images represent different visits; the tenderness, affection and the company of parents, brothers, children and wives. The one who visits also suffers.