At least five dead in prison violence in eastern Honduras
(Sourced from PTI)
At least five people were killed when gunfire erupted inside a maximum-security prison in eastern Honduras, according to an official in the federal prosecutor's office who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The incident occurred around 8 am on Thursday in the prison in Moroceli, El Paraiso, known as "La Tolva," or The Hopper.
The prison holds members of the MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs. It was not immediately clear if all of the dead were prisoners. The federal prison system has not commented on the incident. Local media outlets posted videos of the sound of gunfire inside the prison. There were also reports that a grenade had detonated.
The capital's Hospital Escuela admitted 15 wounded prisoners and one guard, who had been shot in the leg, said hospital spokeswoman Juliett Chavarria. Other prisoners were routed to another hospital nearer the prison. Security analyst Ra l Pineda Alvarado said Honduras struggles to stop prison violence because the prison police is corrupt and the country lacks a real prison policy.
"They just built prisons and increased the prison population without a real rehabilitation system and the other factor is the corruption of the people running the prisons," Alvarado said. The prisons aren't rehabilitation centers, they are centers where the inmates come to be even more corrupted and violent, which is an expression of what happens outside in the rest of society, he said.
