Ten people lost their lives and 16 were injured after a deadly riot at a prison in Sinaloa, Mexico . The incident took place during family visiting hours, state authorities noted.
The Public Security Secretariat said that nine inmates had been killed in the prison riot, along with one family member. Sixteen prisoners were injured and then taken for medical treatment.
A statement, as translated by X, from Seguridad Pública Sinaloa read “The #SSPSinaloa reports that, on this October 8, 2026, the Directorate of the El Castillo Penitentiary Center reported that a fight broke out inside the prison facilities, in which, regrettably, 9 persons deprived of liberty lost their lives, 1 family visitor also perished, and 16 more persons deprived of liberty were injured; they have already been transferred to receive prehospital medical attention. Mexico’s prisons face a set of issues, including overcrowding, partly driven by the use of pretrial detention, due to which thousands of prisoners are kept behind bars without a sentence.
Currently, the Penitentiary Center is under control, and the presence of authorities is maintained to ensure the security of said facility. Following these events, the Inter-Institutional Group took action to bring the situation under control. This, along with insufficient prison staff, has led to corruption and violence inside prisons, as per analysts.
