More than 60 inmates have died during fighting in Mexico's overcrowded prisons [EPA]

Twenty-three inmates have been killed and several others injured during a prison brawl at a northern Mexico jail, prison officials say.

The fight broke out on Wednesday morning between inmates at the state prison in the city of Durango, which houses 2,025 inmates, Carla Puente, the prison spokesperson said.

Puente said she did not know the specific number of injuries nor the reason for the fight, which was quelled by guards.

More than 60 inmates have died during fierce fights at Mexico's often
overcrowded and loosely run prisons in the past two years.

Once a quiet state, Durango has seen a surge in cartel violence in
recent years, both in its cities and its prisons.

Jail killings

Last August, a fight among inmates facing drug charges at a state prison in the Durango city of Gomez Palacio killed 19 inmates and left more than 20 injured.

In October 2008, 21 prisoners died in a fight between inmates at an other
state prison in the border city of Reynosa.

In September 2008, two riots at La Mesa state prison in the border city of Tijuana, across from San Diego, California, killed at least 23 people,
including two inmates from the US.

La Mesa prisoners argued that officials were not giving them food and water, but prison officials blamed troublemakers for the violence.