(More than 140) Mexico prisoners in 'mass jail break' near US border

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

More than 140 Mexican prisoners have escaped from a jail near the US border, local media reports say.

The prisoners - many of them believed to be serving sentences for drugs offences - broke out of the jail in Nuevo Laredo early on Friday morning.

The city lies just across the border from Laredo, Texas.

Mexico's prison system is struggling to cope with an influx of violent offenders arrested in the government's campaign against the cartels.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12023119

[alp227]

1. My state governor considered exporting prisoners to Mexico

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/26/MNV11BND6M.DTL

Also, Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken in favour of exporting prisoners out of state too. Well at least Mexico isn't that big on his list now.

Now I wonder if the Minutemen militia group can take down these thugs if the Minutemen keep talking big against illegal immigration. And what if this prison were near ARIZONA?????

[Creative]

10. Actually, it seems reasonable to expect that Mexico should be responsible

for bearing the burden of crimes committed by Mexican citizens.

Nevertheless, this has the potential to be a dangerous situation for Americans living near this area.

[sarcasmo]

2. The border situation continues to get uglier.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Was it a mass jail break?

Or did the Mexican authorities open the gates and point north?

[Bette Noir]

4. Cuba did that once. Is that what you're referring to?

[CanSocDem]

9. Do you remember LIHOP ???(eom)

[glinda]

5. Texas needs the drug money.

[bemildred]

6. Yay, the Drug War(tm) is working. nt

[Elmore Furth]

7. Officials: At least 141 inmates escape from Mexican prison

Source: CNN

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- State and federal authorities in Mexico traded barbs over the escape of 141 inmates from a border city prison as police stepped up security and searched for convicts on the run.

The inmates -- apparently in collusion with prison workers -- escaped through a service entrance for staff vehicles, according to information from a preliminary state investigation presented to reporters Friday. The prison director also "disappeared," said Antonio Garza Garcia, public safety secretary for Tamaulipas state.

After state authorities divulged the massive escape, Mexico's interior ministry slammed local officials in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

"It is deplorable, the absence of effective measures of control and guarding on the part of local authorities, which has allowed frequent escapes from prisons, putting community security at risk," the ministry said in a statement.

Garza fired back, arguing that state officials had repeatedly asked the federal government for help guarding prisons, which often house federal prisoners serving time for their connection with drug gangs.



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/12/18/mexico.prison.break/

[ChumbawambaFan]

8. Not sure whether this is a 'good' or 'bad' thing considering the aim of the War on Drugs. nt

[InkAddict]

11. You mean insofar as:

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2009/jan/30/prohibition_un_drug_chief_says_b

Profits from the global illicit drug trade helped keep the international banking system afloat during the crisis that swept the global financial system during the second half of last year, the UN's leading drug fighter said in an interview with the Austrian magazine Profil, which was made available Sunday. Drug money was almost the only available capital for banks, said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime

'Bolding format excluded'

No wonder planes unloaded pallets of Ben Franklins and/or gold bullion "over there." Gotta quick get those $$ in circulation. Wonder which "private" bank(s)/pseudo bank Costa means??? Why wouldn't the SEC investigate Madoff??? Why did the Fed come running to the Congress???

Try this DU link as well: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7945515&mesg_id=7945529

[bemildred]

12. Mexico prison staff suspected in mass escape

An intensive manhunt along Mexico's northern border has failed to turn up any of the more than 140 prisoners who escaped from a federal prison.

The inmates apparently walked out unchallenged Friday through the main gate of the prison in the northeastern city of Nuevo Laredo.

Tamaulipas state security chief Antonio Garza told local radio that the prison's director was reported as missing, along with the inmates.

Prison staff are under suspicion of being involved in the escape, the latest in a series of such incidents in Tamaulipas this year.

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/12/18/mexico-prison-break.html

[Xenotime]

13. All the more proof that borders are not working..

[bemildred]

14. Mexico hunts 151 prison escapees

A total of 151 prisoners escaped on Friday from the penitentiary in Nuevo Laredo, local public security spokesman Hector Walle said, amending earlier counts that said 141 prisoners had escaped.

Investigators have said the inmates left through a service entrance for vehicles and were helped by someone in the prison staff.

The prison warden has gone missing since the breakout, which went unnoticed until a routine head count late Thursday.

The escape from the facility in the north-eastern Mexican city - which lies just across the Rio Grande river from the city of Laredo in the US state of Texas - was one of the biggest in Mexico in recent years.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/19/3096939.htm