Mexico's deadliest prison brawl in many years was a bloodbath in which inmates attacked each other with hammers, cudgels and makeshift blades, authorities say, underlining yet again the power that drug cartels wield inside many of the country's lockups.
Jaime Rodriguez, governor of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, on Friday said 60 hammers, 86 knives and 120 shivs were used in the previous day's fighting at the Topo Chico prison in Monterrey, where 49 inmates were hacked, beaten or burned to death, and a dozen more injured.
At least 40 of the victims "died from wounds from stabbing and cutting weapons, blows from hammers and clubs," Rodriguez said at a news conference.
Authorities also seized various kinds of contraband items from marijuana and cocaine to televisions and USB memory sticks.
A dispute between rival factions of the Zetas cartel was believed to be behind the violence.
"What we have to see as a reality in the entire penitentiary system is that there is self-rule" by the inmates, Rodriguez said.
"All this corruption inside the prison creates the conditions we have today."
He acknowledged that prisoners effectively lord over the facility and that there were not enough guards watching them: "Nobody wants to be a guard," he said, because of the meagre pay.
About half the inmates at Topo Chico have been sentenced for minor offences or are suspects still awaiting trial.
Nevertheless they are housed in the prison's overcrowded general population alongside many of the country's most hardened killers.
One of them was Raymundo Gonzalez Hernandez, a 23-year-old who is accused of kidnapping but whose trial is still pending.
He was not among those listed as wounded during the riot, but his cousin said he was covered by bruises and welts when she was allowed inside to see him.
"Both his eyes were practically closed from all the hits they gave him," Cynthia Hernandez said.
"He couldn't even speak, he just went like this," she added, moving her head from side to side.
