Not surprisingly, she said, making it through this experience required family in the outside — to bring food and other necessities — and allies on the inside. Some police officers charge people money when they come to bring food twice a day, she said. Those visits also allow relatives to bring an inmate’s infant.

At the same time, the mixing of people awaiting trial with convicted criminals worries local advocates, Ms. Arévalo Gosen said.

“These people will come out worse, not better,” she said. “They are not going to feel reformed or forgiven by society.”

Local and international human rights groups have decried the conditions these women have been subjected to, noting that the country’s prisons have a long history of deplorable conditions. But Ms. Arévalo Gosen said there was often little popular sympathy in a society where crime and violence have spun out of control.

“Who cares about people in jail?” she said. “People say they are the worst of society, the ones who stain our society, who want to kill and rob us. But if this situation does not improve and judicial system isn’t fixed, these people will all come out worse.”