Quintana Roo Seeks Federal Funds for $2 Billion Cancún Prison

Cancún, Quintana Roo — The Quintana Roo state government is pressing federal officials to fund a new prison for Cancún, a project estimated at more than 2 billion pesos that officials hope to begin building next year.

Julio César Gómez Torres, the state’s public security secretary, said the detailed design is already finished and is now being updated while authorities pursue approval of the money needed for construction.

He said the new penitentiary would be built in the Leona Vicario area, the site chosen when the project was first conceived.

Because of the size of the investment, Gómez Torres said, federal participation is required to finance a project of this scale.

The proposal remains in the government’s project pipeline and is working its way through the Finance Ministry, he said, with backing from the federal Public Security and Citizen Protection Department, headed by Omar García Harfuch, to help move it toward approval.

While the funding decision is pending, the state Public Security Department is strengthening and expanding the infrastructure of prisons already in operation in order to increase their capacity.

Gómez Torres said officials expect the project to be authorized so construction can begin in 2027, though that will depend on federal funding being approved.