Mexico · Baja California · Tijuana
Data is aggregated from public sources and may be incomplete or out of date. Always verify with primary sources before acting on any figure. See data sources.
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Tijuana's main prison. Holds U.S. nationals among others; subject of multiple State Department travel advisories.
La Mesa State Penitentiary is a prison in the La Mesa borough of Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It is considered "one of the most notorious prisons in Latin America". The prison was built for 2,000 inmates and had 2,500 inmates in the 1990s, but the number increased to over 7,000 by the 2010s. Prisoners have committed offenses ranging from theft to murder. Some prison guards were reported to have taken bribes in exchange for releasing prisoners or offering better conditions.
Source: Wikipedia article lead, CC-BY-SA.
Capacity
2,556
Current population
—
Occupancy
—
Year opened
—
Operational
Figures from official sources · verified 3 Jul 2026 · methodology
Population held
mixed
Opened
—
Region
Baja California
Security level
Mixed
Death-row facility
No
ncinerators. Public Health Reports. 1996; 111:299- 313. 8.36 Volkow P, Jacquemin B, Vilar-Compte D, Castillo JR. Contact with blood and body fluids of hospital syringes. Implications for regulated medical waste. Salud Pública de México. 8.37 Volkow P. Rangel-Frausto S. Ponce de León Rosales S. Basura hospitalaria: comentarios sobre sus riesgos y su regulación. Enf Infec y Microbiol 1999; 19:1-4. 8.38 Weber DJ, Rutala WA. Environmental Issues and Nosocomial Infection in Wenzel R. Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infection. Third edition William amp; Wilkins USA 1997; pag. 492-514. 8.39 Weinstein S, Kotilainen HR, Moore D Gantz, N. Microbiologic contamination of hospital trash from patients on isolation precautions versus standard care. Am J Infect. Control 1988; 16:76. Integrado por: Subdirección de Informática JurídicaPágina 17 de 20 Dirección General de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicaciones 8.40 Who/PEP/RUD/94.1. General. Managing Medical Wastes in Developing Countries World Health Organization 1994. 8.41 Reglamento de la Ley General de Salud en materia de Control Sanitario de la Disposición de Organos, Tejidos y Cadáveres de Seres Humanos publicado en el Diario Oficial de Federación el 20 de febrero de 1985.
No visiting information available.
No mailing information available.
Contact the operator's website for inmate-specific procedures.
No major issues documented in our database.
Derived signal — not a judgement. How it's calculated
This facility scores 0. The national average across 629 scored Mexico facilities is 8 — 8 points below national average.
Same country, matched on type + security level where possible.
ncinerators. Public Health Reports. 1996; 111:299- 313. 8.36 Volkow P, Jacquemin B, Vilar-Compte D, Castillo JR. Contact with blood and body fluids of hospital syringes. Implications for regulated medical waste. Salud Pública de México. 8.37 Volkow P. Rangel-Frausto S. Ponce de León Rosales S. Basura hospitalaria: comentarios sobre sus riesgos y su regulación. Enf Infec y Microbiol 1999; 19:1-4. 8.38 Weber DJ, Rutala WA. Environmental Issues and Nosocomial Infection in Wenzel R. Prevention and Control of Nosocomial Infection. Third edition William amp; Wilkins USA 1997; pag. 492-514. 8.39 Weinstein S, Kotilainen HR, Moore D Gantz, N. Microbiologic contamination of hospital trash from patients on isolation precautions versus standard care. Am J Infect. Control 1988; 16:76. Integrado por: Subdirección de Informática JurídicaPágina 17 de 20 Dirección General de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicaciones 8.40 Who/PEP/RUD/94.1. General. Managing Medical Wastes in Developing Countries World Health Organization 1994. 8.41 Reglamento de la Ley General de Salud en materia de Control Sanitario de la Disposición de Organos, Tejidos y Cadáveres de Seres Humanos publicado en el Diario Oficial de Federación el 20 de febrero de 1985.
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Under CC-BY-4.0. Include the URL and access date; the site is a living reference and entries can change.
World Prisons. (2026). CRS Lic. Jorge A. Duarte Castillo (Tijuana). Retrieved July 22, 2026, from https://worldprisons.com/prisons/centro-de-reinsercion-social-la-mesa-tijuana
"CRS Lic. Jorge A. Duarte Castillo (Tijuana)." World Prisons. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://worldprisons.com/prisons/centro-de-reinsercion-social-la-mesa-tijuana.
@misc{worldprisons-centro-de-reinsercion-socia,
author = {{World Prisons}},
title = {CRS Lic. Jorge A. Duarte Castillo (Tijuana)},
year = {2026},
url = {https://worldprisons.com/prisons/centro-de-reinsercion-social-la-mesa-tijuana},
urldate = {2026-07-22}
}