17 Dead in Prison Break, Inmates Open Fire, Attempt to Escape Durango, Mexico Jail: Drug Cartels Likely Involved in Uprising, Six Guards Dead

Reports confirm that at least 17 inmates and guards are dead after an attempted prison break in Durango, Mexico late Tuesday evening (Dec. 18). Reuters reports that several inmates of the Cesero No 2 facility in Gomez Palacio allegedly managed to smuggle weapons inside the building and began manically shooting at the guard towers while attempting to climb over the prison's back walls. On-duty guards then managed to "thwart the inmates'" attempted prison break by responding with their own gunfire, resulting in the death of 11 prisoners and six guardsmen. The influence of Mexican drug cartels may have been involved in the uprising.

UPDATE: The death toll has risen to 22 - nine guards and 13 inmates.

According to the Washington Post, the Durango State Public Safety Department recently released a statement claiming that the prison guards were able to foil "a massive prison escape." After several prisoners opened fire with their smuggled weapons before attempting to escape through the jail's back wall and tunnel, guardsmen fired gunshots into the open air to stop them. An official statement released by Mexico media (and supported by the minister of security in Durango) alleges that a shootout between the two groups occurred after "the inmates started firing guns into the watchtowers and into custodian areas."

While jailbreak attempts have been on the rise in Mexico over the past few years, no reason or motive has yet been attached to this particular uprising. The Huffington Post notes that many of these attempted escapes are most likely related to corruption, since many inmates have connections to drug cartels "on the outside" that help to finance their breakouts - "Authorities attribute the jailbreaks to drug gangs trying to swell their ranks as they fight bloody turf battles throughout Mexico." Allegedly the Sinaloa and Zetas drug cartels are currently fighting for control of Durango.

According to the Institutional Revolutionary Party leader Manlio Fabio Beltrones who recently spoke to the Global Post - "The only thing this outbreak does is leave evidence of a failed penitentiary system, like many other tasks of the outgoing government. All of the authorities are responsible and above all, we see that the majority of the inmates that escaped are federal inmates."

Local and federal authorities managed to subdue the uprising despite the 22 deaths, and the prison in Durango is finally back under the control of authorities.