The timely coincidence of a raid
On Friday morning, the Sinaloa Prosecutor’s Office received one more notification. Another death. Fabián Alonso ‘N’ died in the medical area of the Culiacán penitentiary center. The preliminary data, which is always so preliminary, pointed to a presumed respiratory failure.
The state Public Security Secretariat confirmed it hours later. A dead prisoner. The judicial authority was notified to determine the causes, they said. The first opinion, they insisted, presumed that respiratory problem whose origin “will have to be determined” by the forensic experts.
What they did find quickly: drugs and cell phones
While the forensic bureaucracy is put in place for a single death, the operations inside the prison were noticeably more effective. In new reviews after the death, the State Special Operations Group located various contraband items.
In a first review: five doses of dry herb with characteristics of marijuana, one dose of a white powder similar to cocaine, three cell phones, six chargers, one for a radio and a USB.
On a second check: three more doses of that herb, three additional phones, five cell phone chips, another charger and a bottle (probably mineral water, right?). Everything insured and placed at the disposal of the public ministry.
It’s almost comforting to see the precision with which illegal objects would be invented, versus the perpetual vagueness surrounding the loss of a human life within those same walls.
The administrative machine may be slow to explain a death, but it is surprisingly agile in taking inventory. Priorities that speak for themselves.
