Mexican police have reported that at least 22 people have died in an attempted jail break in the northern part of Durango due to a shootout between guards and prisoners according to Reuters.
At least 13 inmates and nine guards have been killed during the incident that occurred in Gomez Palacio on Dec. 18 according to Durango state police. The final death count number could go up however.
"The number of dead could increase although we hope not. A number of guards and prisoners are currently in a critical state," said a spokesman for Durango state police to Reuters.
The spokesman was also able to confirm that it was possible guards were "complicit" in allowing the weapons to enter the prison.
Inmates reportedly tried climbing the prison's back walls which caused guards to start firing their weapons in the air to get them to stop according to The Clarion Ledger. Inmates returned fire at the watchtowers and select guard areas.
Click here to view a video by ABC about the prison break shootings.
Authorities have opened up an investigating to determine how the inmates were able to get the weapons in the first place.
This is the second jail break to occur near the city in the past five months, as 130 prisoners tried to break free from a prison in Coahuila which is close to Gomez Palacio. Both territories were once seen as a "model for economic development" according to Reuters, but have since been hit by dangerous drug gangs the past couple of years.
"Authorities attribute the jailbreaks to drug gangs trying to swell their ranks as they fight bloody turf battles throughout Mexico," according to The Huffington Post.
Reports first indicated that 17 had been killed during the jail break, but five more people were reported this afternoon. Mexico's penal system has been involved in a number of different controversies lately, something of which the country's new President Enrique Pena Nieto has vowed to change.
In 2010, 140 inmates were able to escape from a prison located in the border city of Nuevo Laredo according to Reuters. Prisons located in Mexico are filled well beyond overall capacity limits, but state police units haven't been able to figure out a reasonable solution for the problem.
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