Mexican prison riot leaves 20 dead
A prison riot in northern Mexico left about 20 people dead today.
Nuevo Leon state public security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano told Milenio television that the riot broke out in the early hours at a prison in the city of Apodaca outside of the northern industrial city of Monterrey.
He said authorities at the state prosecutor’s office reported 20 dead.
A group of inmates in one cell block started to riot and took one of the guards hostage, Domene said. The riot then spread to a second cell block.
Authorities regained control of the prison within a couple of hours, he said.
Families of the prisoners were gathered outside today, seeking word of the victims.
Deadly fights happen periodically in Mexican prisons as gangs and drug cartels stage jail breaks and battle for control of penitentiaries, often with the involvement of officials.
Some 31 prisoners died in January in a prison riot in the Gulf coast city of Altimara in Tamaulipas state, which borders Texas.
