Posted by DD republished from Milenio, with material from BBC, breaking news.com, and newser
In the early hours this morning shortly after midnight a riot broke out at the "infierno" ("hell") Penal del Topo Chico prison in Monterrey in the state of Nuevo Leon. The State Investigative Agency unoffically put the number of dead at 50 including guards and inmates. Nuevo Leon Governor Rodriquez ("el Bronco") tweeted that there were at least 52 killed and 12 injured and said that no prisoners escaped.
Conflicting reports say the riot started in a confrontation between prisoners of the Zeta cartel and a rival cartel. Other reports are saying the riot was the result of an attempted massive escape attempt by some members of the Zetas.
Milenio TV reported that a group of prisoners took over one of the pavilions of the prison and started a fire as a diversion to distract guards from an apparently unsuccessful escape attempt.
The violence prompted the mobilization of the army, Civil Force, and Monterrey police. The Governor and Security Director both tweeted that the situation was under control by 1:30AM and that they would be a press conference this morning to provide more details.
UPDATE; this is a screen capture of the Governor's press conference which was completed just a few minutes ago; To view the video in Spanish click here;
By daylight a large crowd of families of inmates had gathered outside the prison gates trying to get information on family members who were inside.
One woman shouted "there are women and children in there" apparently referring family members that had been inside on conjugal visits. Governor "Bronco" tweeted that all the dead were males.
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| women visitors could be seen on a balcony from the street |
Topo Chico is the oldest prison in Monterrey. According to a BBC report Topo Chico prisoners suffer incarceration under horrible conditions;
- Heavily overcrowded, with prisoners sleeping in the corridors
- Cells have no water, light or ventilation, according to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
- Female prisoners complain of being forced into sexual slavery by male inmates
- Members of rival drug gangs Los Zetas and the Gulf cartel target each other
- In 2011, Topo Chico's security chief was abducted, killed and his body dismembered
- Previous escape attempts have involved digging tunnels and even a grenade attack from outside the prison walls
Governor Rodriquez appears to be responding rapidly to probably the biggest crisis his new administration has faced. Milenio is reporting that several trucks were seen entering and leaving the prison that are transporting about 100 prisoners to the airport where they will be relocated to other prisons outside the state of Nuevo Leon.
This incident is the latest in a series of deadly riots in recent years to hit the country’s overcrowded prisons, which often house inmates from different drug gangs.
In 2013, at least 13 people were killed and 65 injured in a prison riot, which was blamed on gang violence, in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosí.
In 2012, at least 44 inmates died in a when members of the notorious Zetas drug cartel plotted with prison guards in an elaborate escape from the Apodaca prison in Monterrey.
he prison's director was later sacked.
In Sept. of 2012 more than 130 inmates escaped through a tunnel from a prison in Piedras Negras, Coahuila.
In December 2010, 153 inmates escaped from a prison in the northern city of Nuevo Laredo, right across Laredo, Texas.
The riot comes only a day before Pope Francis is scheduled to arrive for his first papal visit to Mexico. He plans to visit a notorious prison in Ciudad Juarez, once considered one of the most violent cities in the world, next week.
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