Tamaulipas state prison in the northern Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo across the border from Laredo, TX, was the scene of a massive escape Friday (12-17-2010), as 141 inmates fled the prison through a service entrance normally used by vehicles.
The Tamaulipas Mexico Public Safety Department said the inmates breakout was probably helped by prison employees. The department said the prison's director could not be located, adding that he and other officials were under investigation.
Eighty-three of the prisoners were being held for trial or had been convicted of theft, assault and other state offenses, with the remaining 58 were being held on federal charges, which include weapons possession and drug trafficking.
Tamaulipas has been the scene of steady violence tied to battles between the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels, but it was unclear whether any members of those groups were among the escaped inmates.
The federal Interior Department blamed the breakout on local authorities, saying they did not properly guard the facility.
"The absence of effective methods of guarding and control by local authorities is deplorable, and it has caused frequent escapes from prisons that put the public at risk," the department said in a statement
Federal police and soldiers were dispatched to patrol the area, and a search for escaped prisoners was begun.
The jail break apparently occurred in the pre-dawn hours Friday.
The escape came on the same day that federal Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna addressed a graduating class of new prison guards, underlining the urgent need to professionalize correctional forces.
