Prison clash in Mexico's Sinaloa leaves 10 dead, 16 hurt

Ten people, nine inmates and one visiting minor, were killed and 16 inmates injured in a fight at the El Castillo Penitentiary Centre in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, on Thursday, state officials said.

Why it matters: The deaths land in one of six Mexican states under a US State Department do-not-travel warning as warring Sinaloa cartel factions keep the state a battleground, though officials have not linked the prison violence to that conflict.

Data as of Al Jazeera article by staff, October 9, 2026, read via browser task. Single-sourced; Al Jazeera cites the Sinaloa Public Security Secretariat's Thursday statement and Secretary Sinuhe Tellez's video statement on social media.

Ten people, nine inmates and one family visitor who was a minor, were killed and 16 inmates injured in a fight at the El Castillo Penitentiary Centre in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, on Thursday, the Sinaloa Public Security Secretariat said.

An inter-institutional group of security forces moved in and the prison is now “under control,” according to the secretariat; the injured were taken for medical care and prison visits have been suspended while social-work staff contact victims’ families. Officials have not said whether the violence was linked to the warring Sinaloa cartel factions that make the state one of six the US State Department advises Americans not to visit, and no escape was reported.

Prison clash in Mexico's Sinaloa leaves 10 dead, 16 hurt

Sources