[link to laht.com]

Criminals Control About 100 Prisons in Mexico

MEXICO CITY – About 100 of Mexico’s 429 prisons, mainly state and municipal facilities, are controlled by inmates due to corruption or mismanagement by prison authorities, National Human Rights Commission, or CNDH, official Daniel Romero said.

Romero, one of the CNDH officials in charge of monitoring conditions at Mexican prisons, said the system of “self-government” is one of the factors behind the violence in penitentiaries.

Mexico’s prisons are frequently the scene of riots and fights, such as the disturbance at a prison in Mazatlan that left 29 inmates dead on Monday.

Five prison riots occurred in 2009, with the most violent incidents taking place in Tijuana, where 19 people died, and in Ciudad Juarez, where 20 inmates were killed.

Serious fights have occurred this month at prisons in Mazatlan and Aguarato, where six people died.

Both cities are in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, the birthplace of Mexico’s most powerful drug traffickers.

Inmates have used firearms in some of the fights, Romero said, blaming this on corruption and the power of prisoners at some facilities.

The inmates “set the conditions and not the authorities,” Romero said.

Inmates decide who will run the prison, charge for conjugal visits and control shops, cleaning services and other activities, the CNDH official said.

“Self-government happens mainly in state prisons and municipal jails or detention centers. It has been less common, fortunately, in the federal system,” Romero said.

CNDH studies have found, according to Romero, that 20 percent to 25 percent of Mexico’s prisons are controlled by inmates.

One theory is that inmates take control of prisons due to inadequate staffing and mismanagement, Romero said.
Mexico’s 429 federal, state and municipal prisons hold a total of 227,000 inmates.

The federal system includes maximum-security prisons whose effectiveness has been questioned due to the Jan. 19, 2001, escape from the Puente Grande penitentiary by Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquin “El Chapo” (Shorty) Guzman.

A CNDH study found “huge problems with the national penitentiary system, from the municipal detention center to the federal” prisons, with “the biggest problem” being inadequate funding.

Prisons are overcrowded, with the average facility about 25 percent over its capacity, the study found.

Guards need training and prisoners doing time for common crimes should be separated from inmates convicted of violating federal laws, the CNDH said.

The majority of prisons do not separate inmates, leading to problems such as the formation of factions and self-government, Romero said.

The study of the national penitentiary system, whose release started in April, “shows high-conflict situations, all of which are factors that should set off the red lights,” Romero said.

Jailing people is not going to put an end to crime because the issue of reincorporating convicts into society is not being addressed, the CNDH official said.

“The incidents are telling us every day that as long as we do not take the necessary action, the reactions, the rebellions and violations of human rights will continue” in the prisons, Romero said.

Romero said he wanted the federal government to build new prisons and the states to focus on the penitentiary systems since “they have been receiving federal resources for their refurbishment.”

The CNDH, an independent body, is preparing recommendations on the national prison system that will be ready in July, Romero said. EFE