Inmates Have Taken Control in More Than Half of Mexico's Crowded Prisons Ana Campoy - Qz.com
go to original February 24, 2016

Inside Topo Chico Prison (Josue Gonzalez)

Aquariums, sauna baths, digital TVs and more than 280 food stands, including a bar. Those are some of the perks dismantled by authorities at Topo Chico prison in northern Mexico, the site of a bloody riot earlier this month that left 49 inmates dead.

The pile of contraband, which had to be removed with heavy machinery due to its bulk, is not a sign of progressive corrections policy. Instead, it underscores the fact that criminals were running the jail in Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo León. And that’s the situation in many of Mexico’s jails. Nearly 60% of state prisons are dominated by inmate self-rule, according to an evaluation of dozens of penitentiary centers by the National Human Rights Commission in 2014.

The agency found that inmate groups run many aspects of prison life, including family visits, the use of phones, and even what inmates are fed. The situation, it says in its report, leads to violence and power struggles. Despite repeated calls for public officials to do something about the growing problem, experts say conditions haven’t improved in recent years.

“There’s a criminal society inside the jails, with its organization and privileges, and in which everything has a price,” Daniel Montero Zendejas, a criminal law expert, tells Quartz.

Mexico’s drug cartel activity, and the insecurity and corruption it breeds, has led to an even more dangerous climate in its jails. As the government cracks down on organized crime - and all other types of unlawful activity - prison populations have swelled. As of December 2015, the country’s penitentiary system was holding nearly 40,000 more inmates than the roughly 200,000 it was built for, according to the latest statistics by the National Security Commission.

Read the rest at Quartz

Related: Mexican Prison Used as Extermination Camp by Los Zetas (teleSUR)

Related: Mexico Prisons: A Perverse Duality (Mexico Voices)

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