This article studies Los tragicos dias in Mas afuera (1931). Written testimony in relation to the political imprisonment of its author in the context of Carlos Ibanez del Campo's dictatorship (1927-1931). The reading perspective is focused on the strategies of resistance deployed by the political prisoners in the penal colony Mas afuera in order to counteract the negative effects related to their captivity. We have analysed, the communication opportunities promoted by these prisoners in order to counteract the loneliness and the lack of information. Our critic reading is based on the postulates of sociologist Emilio de Ipola. This analysis perspective suggests that the political prisoners decode the signs of the penal environment in order to preserve the physical and moral integrity of those who are confined in a space of horror and deterioration.