North Mexico Prison Sees Mass Break-Out

Some 59 prisoners escaped and seven died during a riot at a prison in the town of Nuevo Laredo, north Mexico.

Army troops rushed to the scene and surrounded the prison, which is close to the U.S. border.

The inmates escaped from CEDES prison, which has more than 1,200 inmates. Authorities said that many of the escapees were linked to organized crime.

Five of the prison’s guards went missing in the riot’s aftermath.

Authorities said that 400 inmates have escaped from prisons in Tamaulipas, where Nuevo Laredo is located, since January 2010.

As Insight Crime has reported, Mexican prisons have suffered a number of prison breaks in recent months, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border. In December 2010, the 151 inmates escaped from the same prison in Nuevo Laredo, as armed men suspected to belong to the Zetas drug gang stormed the facility, in one of the largest Mexican prison breaks on record.

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