About 140 inmates escape Mexican border prison

Mexico's Prison system is just worthless.



MEXICO CITY (AP) — About 140 inmates escaped Friday from a state prison in the northern Mexico border city of Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

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.

It called on state authorities to clean up their prison and judicial systems by increased screening and vetting of corrections officers. In past cases, prison guards — often underpaid or under threat from gangs — have been implicated in prison escapes.

Federal police were dispatched to patrol the area, and roadblocks were set up to search for escaped prisoners.