Jail fight leaves 44 dead
Mexican prison officials held after deadly Apodaca brawl
MONTERREY (Mexico): An inmate riot that may have been staged to cover a breakout killed 44 prisoners, and the jail’s director and all guards on duty at the time have been detained, a security official said.
Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano said the riot broke out in a highsecurity section of a state prison in the city of Apodaca outside the northern industrial city of Monterrey.
The fight between two cell blocks, each with about 750 prisoners, may have been staged as a cover for a prison break, he said.
Meanwhile the governor of the state of Nuevo Leon said thirty inmates escaped during the riot.
“In the midst of the riot and disorder inside the prison, a group of 30 inmates succeeded in escaping the penitentiary,” Governor Rodrigo Medina said at a news conference.
Forty-four people died yesterday before state police regained control about two hours later.
Investigators are looking into whether the fight was started by members of the rival Gulf and Zeta cartels, once the same organisation.
Their splittwoyears ago has caused a spike in violence in the region around Monterrey, Mexico’s thirdlargest and once the country’s symbol of development and prosperity.
The prison had members of both gangs, who were normally separated, fueling theories that the 17 guards on duty could have been involved. The prison director, the director of security and a supervisor also are being held, Domene said.
The victims died from makeshift knives and blows, Domene said, adding that no firearms were found among the prisoners.
Deadly fights happen periodically in Mexico’s prisons as gangs and drug cartels stage jail breaks and battle for control of penitentiaries, often with the involvement of officials.
Sunday’s riot was one of the deadliest so far.
All 2,500 inmates in the prison were incarcerated for federal crimes, and as many as 70% had yet to be convicted, Domene said.
The inmate population grew by 1,500 in the last year to 180 capacity, the result of a crackdown on organised crime and drug trafficking in the last year, he added.
More than 47,500 people have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon intensified Mexico’s crackdown on organised crime. — Agencies