- Title: Sixteen inmates killed in latest bout of prison mayhem in Honduras
- Date: 23rd December 2019
- Summary: TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS (DECEMBER 23, 2019) (REUTERS) VEHICLE ARRIVING AT MORGUE WITH SIRENS MILITARY POLICE PERSONNEL OUTSIDE MORGUE VARIOUS OF TRUCK CARRYING BODIES OF INMATES KILLED IN PRISON FIGHT ARRIVING AT MORGUE TARP COVERING BODIES IN BACK OF TRUCK POLICE AND VEHICLES OUTSIDE MORGUE OFFICIALS AT MORGUE BODIES IN BACK OF TRUCK COVERED BY TARP PEOPLE LOOKING ON BODY ON STRETCHER BEING TAKEN INSIDE MORGUE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) BROTHER OF INMATE WHO WAS KILLED IN EL PORVENIR PRISON, WILSON BAQUEDANO, SAYING: "If this was a maximum security jail why did this happen? This shouldn't happen. It's like they did it to make people afraid, I don't know, make the nation afraid. It hurts, my brother was in jail for 10 years, he was in maximum security for 10 years, and they only moved him from there two months ago, why did they kill him? And, if you're in a maximum security prison why would he have been killed?"
- Embargoed: 6th January 2020 14:15
- Keywords: Honduras fight gangs inmates jail killed murder prison violence
- Location: TEGUCIGALPA & FRANCISCO MORAZAN, HONDURAS
- City: TEGUCIGALPA & FRANCISCO MORAZAN, HONDURAS
- Country: Honduras
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice
- Reuters ID: LVA001BB75V7R
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:At least 16 Honduran inmates were killed during a fight between armed gangs of prisoners on Sunday (December 22), officials said, the second outbreak of violence to hit Honduras' beleaguered jails in the past few days.
The deaths took place in Honduras' El Porvenir penitentiary, about 43 miles (70 km) east of the capital Tegucigalpa, and follow an incident in which 18 inmates were killed during a fight between gangs at a prison in the northern port city of Tela.
Fights in the Central American country's overcrowded jails are common, as street gangs known as 'maras' compete for control of them.
Last week, the government declared a state of emergency in the prison system, transferring control to military and police forces in an effort to combat the surge in violence plaguing penal institutions that house nearly 22,000 inmates.
The preliminary death count from Sunday's prison gang fight stands at 16 plus another two inmates injured, according to Colonel Jose Gonzalez, a senior penal system official,
Since October, there have been at least five shootouts in Honduran prisons.
(Production: Marvin Valladares, Manuel Carrillo) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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