Mexico set to free wrongly detained indigenous inmates

[dArKeR]

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.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2005/07/28/2003265381