La Mesa prison

La Mesa State Penitentiary is a prison in La Mesa, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It is considered "one of the most notorious prisons in Latin America". The prison was built for 2,000 inmates and had 2,500 inmates in the 1990s, but the number increased to over 7,000 by the 2010s. Prisoners have committed offenses ranging from theft to murder.

Some prison guards were reported to have taken bribes in exchange for releasing prisoners or offering better conditions.

Sister Antonia Brenner, a Catholic nun, voluntarily lived with the inmates of La Mesa Prison for over thirty years, and was called "La mama" or the "Prison Angel". She lived in a 10-by-10 cell.

In 2002, police demolished a luxury condominium for bribe-paying inmates inside the prison. At that time, the most dangerous inmates were transferred to a new facility near Tecate.