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Prison inmates in Mexico have suffered from coronavirus infections at a higher rate than the country as a whole, and pandemic lockdowns have reduced their already limited contact with the outside world.

But one group of women inmates at a prison west of Mexico City have managed to benefit, as the lockdown spurred a wave of professionals with time on their hands to donate online classes.

Chefs, writers, and other professionals who once might have had a hard time physically visiting the prison, with its complex security filters, now are increasingly giving online classes to inmates.

Tatiana Ortiz founded the non-profit group “Plan B” two years ago to bring a sewing workshop, a library, and classes to inmates. The Plan B foundation had the idea to launch a web page with the slogan “Donate an hour,” which has already received about 10,000 responses with proposals for classes. They come not just from big-name chefs, businesswomen, motivational speakers, and coaches. The website aims to sign up gardeners, carpenters, and clothing makers.
Donate an hour has already become the first remote school for female prisons in Mexico.