A 45-year-old senior non-commissioned officer of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service (SPB) became the first woman in the history of the province of Buenos Aires to be appointed as the person in charge of two pavilions that house men in Unit 6 of Dolores.
“I like that women are given the opportunity to do what men do. It is a way of demonstrating gender equality,” he claimed mercedes valero after his appointment.
The main non-commissioned officer is assigned to pavilions 11 and 12 of Unit 6, where 35 and 36 men are housed, and among her tasks are opening cell doors for inmates to leave for prison activities, counting and supervise breakfast, snacks and dinner, according to the SPB.
“I am on duty 24 hours a day and I do the same as my two companions,” explained Valero, whose appointment was endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of the province of Buenos Aires and the SPB Headquarters.
The woman joined the SPB on May 2, 2003, -next Monday she will be serving 19 years-, and in her institutional career she served in Unit 9 La Plata, 33 Los Hornos, 15 Batán and 6 Dolores.
“Since 2006 I have been in Unit 6 and I have always been assigned to work in the visitors’ office, but now I face this challenge, that of being in charge of men’s pavilions, with enthusiasm”he maintained in statements released by the prison service.
Valero is the mother of two daughters, ages 15 and 27, whose parents also worked at the SPB. She herself is a retired senior non-commissioned officer of the SPB and her four brothers are also prisoners, like her.
