Monterrey, Mexico • The warden, superintendent and a guard have been arrested on murder charges after a prison riot in northern Mexico that killed 49 people, state prosecutors said Saturday.
On Friday, Nuevo Leon prosecutors had said that three state officers had been charged with murder in connection with the riot but did not identify them by name. The two prison officials were also charged with abuse of authority.
On Thursday, rival factions of the Zetas drug cartel slaughtered each other inside the Topo Chico prison. The guard who was charged with murder fired on an inmate and killed him, prosecutors said.
State prosecutor Roberto Flores said prison Director Gregoria Salazar Robles and Superintendent Jesus Fernando Dominguez Jaramillo were charged for not maintaining the necessary security measures inside the prison. Investigators determined inmates had bats and metal bars used in the bloodbath. Some cells did not have locks.
Many prisons in Mexico are under the control of the inmates.
On Friday, Flores said that four of the nine bodies still unidentified could not be named because the prison had no record of them at the facility. The other five bodies were badly burned and were awaiting DNA testing.
Nuevo Leon Gov. Jaime Rodriguez said 60 hammers, 86 knives and 120 shivs were used in the bloodbath in which 49 inmates were hacked, beaten or burned to death and a dozen were 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
Rodriguez acknowledged that prisoners effectively lord over the facility and that there were not enough guards watching them. "Nobody wants to be a guard," because of the meager pay, he said.
About half the inmates at Topo Chico have been sentenced for minor offenses or are suspects still awaiting trial. But they are housed in the prison's overcrowded general population alongside many of the country's most hardened killers.
Pope Francis greets people upon arrival to Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. The pontiff is in Mexico for a week-long visit. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
An inmate shouts and makes a hand sign from behind his barred window at the Topo Chico prison, after a riot broke out around midnight in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Dozens of inmates were killed and several injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions at the prison in northern Mexico, according to the state governor. (AP Photo/Emilio Vazquez)
Inmates from the female block shout from the Topo Chico prison after a riot broke out around midnight in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Dozens of inmates were killed and several injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions at the prison in northern Mexico, according to the state governor. (AP Photo/Emilio Vazquez)
Inmates stand on the rooftop of the Topo Chico prison after a riot broke out around midnight, in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Dozens of inmates were killed and several injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions at the prison in northern Mexico, the state governor said. (AP Photo/Emilio Vazquez)
Inmates from the female block shout from the Topo Chico prison after a riot broke out around midnight in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Dozens of inmates were killed and several injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions at the prison in northern Mexico, according to the state governor. (AP Photo/Emilio Vazquez)
A group of children running to embrace the Pope Francisc during the welcoming ceremony upon arrival to Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. The pontiff is in Mexico for a week-long visit. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
A group of children running to embrace the Pope Francisc during the welcoming ceremony upon arrival to Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City, Friday, Feb. 12, 2016. The pontiff is in Mexico for a week-long visit. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
Relatives of inmates try to ram a piece of wood at police, who are standing on the other side of a gate, at the Topo Chico where a riot broke out around midnight, in Monterrey, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016. Dozens of inmates were killed and several injured in a brutal fight between two rival factions at the prison in northern Mexico, the state governor said. (AP Photo/Emilio Vazquez)
