In troubled Mexico prison, the inmates ruled their cell blocks

MEXICO CITY — A violent prison break in which 30 inmates escaped and 17 people — mostly guards — were killed has revealed a shocking level of self-rule by prisoners inside the prison in the northern Mexico border city of Ciudad Juarez.

Not only were criminals able to sneak guns, drugs and luxury goods into prison No. 3, they actually held the keys to some sections of the facility, which is located across the border from El Paso, Texas.

“It was evident that the inmates themselves were practically in charge of security, and that on some cell blocks they had the keys to common areas, like classrooms or cafeterias,” said Néstor Manuel Armendáriz, the president of the Human Rights Commission in the northern state of Chihuahua.

Searches after Sunday’s uprising and jail break turned up 10 “VIP” cells outfitted with televisions and other comforts. One even had a safe filled with cash. Authorities also found cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, fentanyl and marijuana inside the prison, and they found 14 guns just outside.

But Armendáriz said supposed searches in 2021 didn’t find any of that.

The director of the prison was fired Tuesday, and 191 inmates considered high-risk were transferred out of the over-crowded prison.

Despite the prison’s long history of problems, authorities prefer to look the other way, said Saskia Niño de Rivera, who leads the incarceration reform group Reinserta.

“Security is totally politicized, because the prisons don’t win you political points,” Niño de Rivera said.

She said Sunday’s riot “is a clear example of what is occurring in a large number of Mexican prisons, which are completely forgotten by the authorities and which are completely out of control.”