Silver in Press/War / Conflict / 2026 / Press / War / Conflict

• Prize
  Silver in Press/War / Conflict
• Photographer
  Sebastian Proctor, Bolivia
• Date of Photograph
  10 October 2022

In this close portrait from the protest outside San Pedro Prison (La Paz, Bolivia), the wife of a prisoner held in pre-trial detention without a sentence joins the demonstration in a brutal act of solidarity: her lips sewn shut.Her silence is not passive—it is forced, chosen, and political. It reflects the reality of families trapped in the same uncertainty as the detainees: waiting for justice that never arrives, enduring years without a definitive trial or verdict. This image speaks of pain, endurance, and the violence of a system where even those outside the prison walls are punished.