Over two thousand inmates in Quintana Roo's prisons, located in Cancun, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Chetumal, are still awaiting sentencing. Out of these, 1,634 are held under remand in custody, a practice deemed incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights in 2023.

The National Census of Penitentiary Systems at the State and Federal Level 2024 reveals that, as of 2023, Quintana Roo held 3,666 individuals in custody. The majority of these individuals, 3,470, are men, while 196 are women. They are housed across the Social Reintegration Centers (Cereso) in Chetumal, Cancun, and Cozumel, as well as the Municipal Detention Center in Playa del Carmen.

Of these inmates, 65.1% (or 2,387 individuals) had not received a sentence by the end of last year. The breakdown is as follows:

652 are in justified preventive detention
1,634 are in remand in custody
101 are under other legal premises

Additionally, 201 individuals are serving non-definitive sentences, while only 1,078 have received a definitive sentence.

Justified preventive detention is seen by authorities as a way to prevent the accused from evading justice, subject to a judge's discretion. Mandatory remand, on the other hand, is automatically enacted when an individual is implicated in any crime outlined in Article 19 of the Constitution. These crimes include organized crime, premeditated homicide, rape, kidnapping, human trafficking, crimes involving violent means such as firearms and explosives, enforced disappearance of people, possession and use of prohibited firearms, theft, hydrocarbon trafficking, and corruption-related crimes.

This practice has sparked debate in Mexico due to multiple court cases challenging its legality, particularly after the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Mexico for its use. The issue is expected to be revisited once the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation resumes after its vacation.