Mexico: more deaths at Mazatlán prison – Sheinbaum pledges tighter security
A day after a riot that left ten dead at El Castillo prison in Sinaloa, two more inmates have been killed in a brawl.
Archive image · Photo: Christopher Javier Cuenca García / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Two inmates were killed on Friday in a fresh clash at El Castillo prison in the Mexican coastal city of Mazatlán, the Mexican newspapers Reforma and El Financiero reported, according to The Rio Times. Only on Thursday, ten people had died in a riot during visiting hours – nine inmates and one family member, according to Sinaloa state's public security secretariat. Sixteen prisoners were injured.
The army, National Guard, navy and state police entered the prison, which holds about 1,800 inmates. The federal security cabinet said the situation was “under control”. How the deaths occurred has not yet been officially explained; authorities have not confirmed reports of firearms inside the prison. President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that security in Sinaloa's prisons would be reinforced.
Sinaloa has been shaken since September 2024 by a power struggle between two factions of the Sinaloa cartel. In May, seven inmates were killed in a riot at a prison in the state capital, Culiacán. According to AP, analysts attribute violence in Mexican prisons to factors including overcrowding, lengthy pre-trial detention and staff shortages.