CBC News - Mexican prisoners let out to kill: prosecutors
Guards and officials at a prison in northern Mexico let inmates out, lent them guns and let them use official vehicles to carry out drug-related killings, including the massacre of 17 people last week, prosecutors said Sunday.
Mexican attorney general spokesman Ricardo Najera, shown at a 2009 new conference, said Sunday that officials at a northern Mexican prison temporarily released inmates to carry out killings.Mexican attorney general spokesman Ricardo Najera, shown at a 2009 new conference, said Sunday that officials at a northern Mexican prison temporarily released inmates to carry out killings. (Alexandre Meneghini/Associated Press)After carrying out the killings the inmates would return to their cells, the attorney general’s office said in a revelation that was shocking even for a country wearied by years of drug violence and corruption.
“According to witnesses, the inmates were allowed to leave with authorization of the prison director … to carry out instructions for revenge attacks using official vehicles and using guards’ weapons for executions,” attorney general spokesman Ricardo Najera said at a news conference.
The director of the prison in Gomez Palacios in Durango state and three other officials were placed under a form of house arrest pending further investigation. No charges have yet been filed.