SHOCKING images show a naked one-legged woman who has been locked up inside a cage for the past 15 years because of her schizophrenia.

The vulnerable woman, 55, was found in a jungle prison in the municipality of Minatitlan, in the city of Veracruz in southern Mexico.

Identified as Dora Alicia Mendez Huervo, she was reportedly suffering from schizophrenia – which is a mental disorder which impacts a person’s ability to understand reality and causes abnormal behaviour.

She was found completely naked inside the cage and was missing her right leg which she lost after jumping from the second floor of a building, it has been reported.

Local media claim her relatives had kept her locked in the cage for over 15 years to stop her becoming aggressive.

She has also been accused of burning down the houses of her two sisters.

In the heartbreaking pictures, the 55-year-old can be seen sat completely naked inside a cage as a man tries to communicate with her.

However in distressing footage which The Sun Online has chosen not to publish Huervo does not appear to understand the man.

Local media report she was left naked in the cage as she often rips up her clothes.

Director of the local health department Manuel Aburto Vandala slammed the “inhumane” treatment of the woman.

He said: "She is totally abandoned in inhumane conditions.

“This lack of freedom should be argued with properly and we need to see the reasons behind it.

“But they are definitely not conditions a human being should endure."

Huervo had previously been hospitalised in two psychiatric centres which did not have the resources to pay for her recovery process, according to reports.

Local official Vandala said residents had not reported the disturbing case to avoid problems with the caged woman’s relatives.

The 55-year-old will be evaluated in a psychiatric institute while her family have agreed to improve her conditions at home, reports say.