Authorities on Tuesday released 49 inmates from penitentiaries in central Mexico, the first batch of hundreds expected to be freed as government officials check cases against Indian prisoners for judicial improprieties.
Mexico's Indians -- some of whom do not speak Spanish -- often remain in jail when they are eligible for early release or bail because of a lack of legal representation or economic resources, or because of confusion about the law and bureaucratic hurdles.
Case review
During a ceremony in which prisoners were freed in Puebla, the capital of the state of the same name 105km southeast of Mexico City, Public Safety Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta said authorities hoped to release between 700 and 800 Indian inmates by the end of the year, after reviewing federal case files as well as those of prisoners held at the state and local levels.
There are about 7,700 Indians behind bars nationwide, Public Safety Department officials say.
The move came two weeks after Martin Huerta's office signed an agreement with the National Commission for Development to rid Mexican prisons of Indians held unfairly.
Younger inmates
Also attending the ceremony was Puebla Governor Mario Marin, who said many of those included in the first wave to be released were younger inmates.
"Pooling our efforts and building collaboration allows authorities to give the kind of positive answers all society needs, but especially those groups who are most vulnerable, like youngsters and Indians," Marin said.
As part of the program, authorities have also pledged to provide legal advisers who are familiar with Indian languages and customs, and to attempt to move Indians being held far away from their families to jails closer to home.
Some Indians who are not eligible for release may be transferred to Islas Marias, the hemisphere's last remaining island penal colony located about 112km off Mexico's southern Pacific coast, where inmates do farm work and receive long family visits.
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