Sinaloa authorities said a fight at El Castillo prison in Mazatlan on Thursday killed nine inmates and one family visitor, whom the security secretary identified as a minor. Sixteen inmates were injured.
Ten people were killed and 16 injured in a fight on Thursday at the El Castillo penitentiary in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, state authorities said. The Sinaloa Public Security Secretariat said nine inmates and one family visitor died.
Secretary of Public Security Sinuhe Tellez said in a video that the visitor was a minor, Al Jazeera reported. The 16 injured inmates were transferred for medical care. Authorities said an inter-institutional security group moved in and that the prison was under control, with staff still on site.
Visits were suspended as a precaution. Social-work staff were contacting families of the dead, Tellez said. The state attorney general's office was notified and will investigate.
Sinaloa is a battleground for factions of the Sinaloa cartel and is one of six Mexican states the US State Department advises Americans not to visit, Al Jazeera noted. Officials have not said whether the prison fight was linked to that conflict.
No motive or list of the dead had been published in the accounts cited here. The confirmed facts are the death and injury counts, the location, and the suspension of visits.
People Sentiments Negative
- Sinuhe Tellez said the visitor who died was a minor.
- The security secretariat said the prison was under control after security forces moved in.