In this article, the author shares her experience as an activist and an academic working with incarcerated indigenous and mestizo women in Mexico, who are victims of a criminal state that criminalizes poverty and social protest. Rosalva Aida arrived at the CERESO women’s prison in Atlacholoaya, Morelos, in 2008, with the expectation that her research on the Mexican justice system would contribute to improving access to justice for women. She could have never imagined the profound ways in which the reflections and experiences of these women would change her life forever.