Relatives protest outside site of Mexico prison break

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- Fires and new disturbances were reported inside and outside the Apodaca prison in northern Mexico, site of a massacre and prison break on Sunday that left 44 people dead and added to an international outcry over prison conditions in Latin America.

Relatives of inmates clashed with authorities outside the prison late Tuesday, while fires were set by inmates inside after word spread of the protest, reports said. Within hours, authorities reported that they had brought the situation under control.

The disturbances began after authorities announced the transfer of some inmates out of Apodaca. The prison is located outside of the industrial city of Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo Leon.

The killings in Apocada comes after more than 350 trapped inmates died last week in a fire in a severely overcrowded prison in Honduras. A recent report on the Honduran prison system painted a bleak picture of ‘unhealthy’ and ‘collapsed’ facilities that operate as ‘universities of crime.’

The Apodaca incident is believed to have been an operation carried out by the Zetas crime cartel with the help of corrupt prison officials, in which 30 Zetas members escaped and killed dozens of members of the rival Gulf cartel.

ALSO:

Honduras report bolsters criticism of prison system

Mexico’s defense secretary acknowledges errors in drug war

Prison brawl in Mexico was cover for jail break, authorities say

-- Daniel Hernandez