This article analyzes the dual nature of the implementation of human rights discourse in the context of the Colombian penitentiary and prison system. On the one hand, it functions as a discourse articulated both by women deprived of liberty and by security and custodial personnel to confront the infrahuman conditions of confinement. In this facet, human rights discourse seems to bridge the gap that separates guards and inmates thanks to their identification as victims of state neglect. On the other hand, this discourse operates as a mechanism of adaptation to the penitentiary experience, which is narrated by the inmates through the language of law. In this process, the strategic appropriation of human rights discourse in the figures of the Consul, the Patio Representative, and the Human Rights Office is a determining factor for translating prison life into the language of legal institutions.