Mexico: Overcrowded Prisons Spark Crisis Juan Alberto Cedillo - Infosurhoy
go to original March 23, 2012

The warden, assistant warden, security chief and 26 guards at the Apodaca Municipal Detention Center were taken into custody for their roles in a Feb. 19 fight that left 44 prisoners dead and preceded the escape of 29 inmates who were allegedly members of the Los Zetas cartel. (Juan Alberto Cedillo/Infosurhoy.com)

MONTERREY, Mexico – The overcrowded prison system is contributing to the growing wave of violence that is engulfing the country, and nowhere is it worse than in the state of Nuevo León.

There have been 59 deaths in the northeastern state’s three penitentiaries this year after 60 occurred in 2011, said Sister Consuelo Morales, director of NGO Citizens in Support of Human Rights (CADHAC), an organization that works extensively with prisons in northeastern Mexico.

The 60 deaths last year represented 35% of the 171 inmates who died while serving time nationwide in 2011, according to Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission (CNDH).

The biggest reason for the bloodshed behind bars is overcrowding, as there are simply too many inmates and not enough cells.

In 2011, Mexico had 430 correctional facilities capable of housing 184,193 inmates, but the country had 224,246 prisoners, meaning there was an overflow of 40,053 convicts. In 2010, 219,027 prisoners were packed into 429 correctional facilities designed to hold 181,876 inmates, according to the National Statistic Report published by the government.

The government is hoping to alleviate overcrowding by building eight federal prisons throughout the country in the next two years.

Meantime, overcrowding has created a volatile situation. Extortion, assaults, rapes, riots and escape attempts are common, as criminal gangs and cartels have brought their turf wars to correctional facilities, where they fight to control the flow of drugs, weapons and other contraband, according to the CADHAC.
Forty-four inmates who were members of the Gulf Cartel were killed during a fight that was a prelude to the escape by 29 alleged members of the Los Zetas cartel from the Apodaca Municipal Detention Center in the state of Nuevo León. (Juan Alberto Cedillo for Infosurhoy.com)

Forty-four inmates who were members of the Gulf Cartel were killed during a fight that was a prelude to the escape by 29 alleged members of the Los Zetas cartel from the Apodaca Municipal Detention Center in the state of Nuevo León. (Juan Alberto Cedillo for Infosurhoy.com)

“Common prisoners even have the razors their families bring them taken away and resold to them by the mafias that operate inside the prisons,” Morales said. “Yet the cartel leaders, who maintain control of mafias inside the prisons, enjoy plasma screen televisions in their cells, meals brought in from the best restaurants, radios, telephones and entertainment at any hour.”

Bloodshed behind bars

One of the bloodiest days this year was on Feb. 19. At around 1 a.m. local time, 44 inmates, all Gulf Cartel members, were killed during a fight that served as a prelude to the escape –orchestrated with the assistance of the prison guards – by 29 alleged Los Zetas cartel members from Nuevo León’s Apodaca Municipal Detention Center.

Jorge Domene, the state’s security spokesman, said most of the deaths were caused by stab wounds or from blows by blunt weapons.

“There has been complicity by some prison authorities, which explains how and when the escape took place,” Nuevo León Gov. Rodrigo Medina said the morning after the incident.

Gerónimo Miguel Andrés Martínez, the center’s warden, along with assistant warden Juan Hernández, security chief Óscar Deveze Laureano and 26 guards were taken into custody for their connections to the escape and killings.

The massacre and escape at the Apodaca Municipal Detention Center came about five weeks after 31 inmates died and 13 were injured during a brawl in which inmates used homemade weapons – commonly called “shanks” – at the Altamira Detention Center, a medium-security prison in the state of Tamaulipas that is more than 40% over its 2,600 capacity.

Morales doesn’t envision the situation improving any time soon, especially considering those convicted of lesser crimes are often incarcerated in the same cellblocks as murderers and rapists. It’s common for leaders of gangs inside prisons to extort inmates, forcing families to pay so their loved ones aren’t killed. Cartel leaders also charge inmates for basic privileges, such as being able to sleep on a mattress, which can cost $200 to $500 Mexican pesos (US$15.78 – US$39.44) monthly.

“Nowadays, everything is for sale in prisons, including spaces to sleep,” she said. “It’s absurd that a person condemned for a [petty] crime would be held in a detention center with highly dangerous inmates. The government does not provide for these situations and offers no alternatives for these cases.”

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