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52 Inmates Killed in Mexican Prison Amid Riot and Fire At Least 49 Inmates Killed in Mexican Prison Riot
(about 9 hours later)
MEXICO CITY — A fight between two inmates at a penitentiary in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey escalated into a riot early Thursday that left 52 prisoners dead, the state governor said. MEXICO CITY — The fight took less than an hour. At the end of it, at least 49 followers of two rival gang leaders lay dead, stabbed and beaten to death in an overcrowded, aging prison in the northern city of Monterrey.
The trouble began just before midnight at the Topo Chico Prison when the two men, identified only as Jorge Ivan “N” and Juan Pedro “N,” began fighting, said Gov. Jaime Rodríguez Calderón of Nuevo León. The trouble began just before midnight on Wednesday at the Topo Chico Prison when a struggle broke out between the gangs led by Jorge Ivan Hernández Cantú and Juan Pedro Saldívar Farías, said Gov. Jaime Rodríguez Calderón of Nuevo León.
As the violence spread, prisoners set fire to the prison warehouse. All of the dead were inmates, he said. The state government put the original death toll at 52, but officials said they had found only 49 bodies. One inmate was killed by a shot fired by a guard, Mr. Rodríguez said in interviews with local news media, but the rest were stabbed and beaten to death.
It remained unclear precisely how the inmates had died. “It was a pitched battle,” the governor said in a radio interview. “It is horrible and terrifying.”
Twelve inmates were reported injured in the uproar at the prison, the oldest in Nuevo León. The two gang leaders, both serving sentences for organized crime activities, had been moved from federal prisons. The government identified 40 of the dead on Thursday afternoon, and neither of the gang leaders was on the list.
Initial news reports said that the riot had broken out as part of an escape attempt, but the government said on its Twitter feed that none of the inmates had escaped. Video footage taken by local residents from nearby rooftops showed the crowds of men shouting at each other in a prison yard. As the violence spread, inmates set fire to the prison warehouse.
“We are living through tragedy due to the conditions in the prisons,” Governor Rodríguez said at a news conference in Monterrey. Twelve prisoners were reported to have been injured, five of them seriously, in the uproar at the prison, the oldest in Nuevo León.
Forces from the federal police, the navy marines and the army surrounded the prison, the governor said, as relatives of the inmates gathered outside awaiting news. Initial news reports said the riot had broken out as part of an escape attempt, but the government said none of the inmates had escaped.
The riot was brought under control around 1:30 a.m., the state government said on Twitter. “We are living through tragedy due to the conditions in the prisons,” Mr. Rodríguez said at a news conference in Monterrey.
Mexican prisons are vastly overcrowded and riots frequently break out. In September, a leader of the Zetas drug gang was stabbed to death at Topo Chico in a riot that left 11 inmates wounded. There are only 100 guards for an inmate population of 3,800, he said. “These are legacies of many years, the result of a serious lack of attention in the penitentiary system.”
In February of 2012, 44 prisoners were bludgeoned and stabbed to death as guards stood by in a state prison in Apodaca, in the Monterrey suburbs, in a riot initiated by the Zetas. As the Zetas killed inmates from their rivals in the Gulf cartel, 30 Zeta leaders escaped. Forces from the federal police and branches of the military surrounded the prison, Mr. Rodríguez said, but they made no attempt to enter it because its layout prevented a rapid deployment inside.
The month before 31 inmates died in a prison in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas in fighting between Zetas and the Gulf cartel. The riot was brought under control around 1:30 a.m., the state government said.
Mexican prisons are severely overcrowded, and riots frequently break out. In September, a leader of the Zetas drug gang was stabbed to death at Topo Chico in a riot that left 11 inmates wounded.
In February 2012, 44 prisoners were bludgeoned and stabbed to death as guards stood by in a state prison in Apodaca, in the Monterrey suburbs, in a riot started by the Zetas. As the Zetas killed inmates from their rivals in the Gulf drug gang, 30 Zeta leaders escaped.
The month before, 31 inmates died in a prison in a neighboring state, Tamaulipas, in fighting between Zetas and the Gulf gang.
Carlos Jáuregui, the former public security secretary for the Nuevo León state government, said that overcrowding at the prison had been a problem for more than a decade. “During my tenure, it was a constant preoccupation because it could not be resolved,” Mr. Jáuregui said.
The authorities have no control over what happens inside the prisons, Mr. Jáuregui added. “The problem is that the majority of Mexican prisons are out of control. They are run by organized crime and the prisoners themselves.”