Mexican prison brawl leaves 23 dead

Twenty-three inmates were killed and several others injured during a prison brawl Wednesday morning at a northern Mexico penitentiary, prison officials said. The fight broke out between inmates at the state prison in the city of Durango that houses 2,025 inmates, said prison spokeswoman Carla Puente. Puente said she did not know the specific number of injuries nor the reason for the fight, which was quelled by guards.

More than 60 inmates have died during fierce fights at Mexico's often overcrowded and loosely run prisons in the past two years. Officials at the state-run prisons frequently complain that they are not equipped to handle violent drug traffickers who are being held on federal charges. Once a quiet state, Durango has seen an upsurge in cartel violence in recent years, both in its cities and its prisons.