VERACRUZ, MEXICO (BDCi) – Thirty-two prisoners reportedly escaped out of three different jails in Mexico’s Veracruz state on Monday. The BBC reported that inmates took control over the jails’ guards and forced them to open the doors leading to the outside. A spokesman for Veracruz State, Miguel Valera told AFP that the inmates got a hold of several knives and used them to overpower the guards. Mexican officials report that the jail breaks occurred Monday morning between 2:30 and 4:00a.m. “Security of Mexican prisoners is notoriously weak, with guards often intimidated or bribed by drug gang operations inside and outside the jails,” Valera stated. The prison guards who rejected bribes from drug gangs are reported to have been killed. Mexican officials have reportedly captured 14 of the prisoners who escaped from the three different jails which include Dupont Ostion jail in Coatzacoalcos, La Toma in Amaltlande Los Reyes and the Cosmaloapan prison.
Investigators are now taking a closer look at how the breaks happened and are currently conducting interviews to further their investigation, AFP reports.
By: Shayla Selva Edited by Don Weinstein Source: BBC, AFP, globalpost.com Photo courtesy of BBC September 20, 2011
11:50a.m. P.D.T.