The blaze was the latest in a series of deadly fires and riots in Honduran prisons in recent years. Rioting by inmates is common in Honduras and elsewhere in Latin America, where prison conditions are generally squalid and unsafe.
BY KEN ELLINGWOOD | LOS ANGELES TIMES
MEXICO CITY — Angered by a prison fire in Honduras that officials say killed more than 350 trapped inmates, rights advocates on Wednesday decried dangerous and overcrowded conditions they say have long typified the country’s neglected prison system.
Officials said at least 356 people were confirmed dead by late Wednesday, after the blaze a day earlier consumed half the prison in the town of Comayagua in central Honduras. If all were confirmed dead, the toll would be the highest from any prison fire in modern history.
Rights advocates called for reforms of Honduran prisons, which for many years have been plagued by chronic overcrowding, poor sanitation, inadequate food and ramshackle quarters. Honduran authorities have promised to earmark more funds to fix the problems but failed to do so, activists say.
“This isn’t news to the Honduran government. The tragedy that happened last night could have been avoided,” said Vicki Gass, a senior associate at the Washington Office on Latin America, or WOLA. “They’ve been told that they need to increase resources into the prison system and carry out prison reforms.”
The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged an “overhaul” of Honduran prisons, saying the country’s spiraling murder rate has sent arrests soaring, leading to worse crowding.
In Comayagua, investigators sought to identify scores of bodies, many burned beyond recognition after a prisoner reportedly set fire to his mattress late Tuesday. Inmates suffocated or burned to death in their cells when rescue workers were unable to find guards with keys. Some prisoners escaped by ripping open the roof.
The prison, where inmates grew crops in nearby fields, reportedly held about 850 inmates. Television footage showed emergency workers racing on foot in midnight darkness and later carrying burned survivors, some revealing broad patches of charred skin.
The head of the Honduran prison system, Danilo Orellana, told The Associated Press that survivors said the blaze started when an inmate ignited his bedding, saying, “We will all die here!”
The local governor, who once worked at the prison, told reporters that an inmate telephoned her shortly before the fire, vowing to set the place ablaze and to kill everyone inside, the AP said.
Survivors were treated in hospitals in Comayagua and in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, about 90 miles to the south.
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo announced he was firing top administrators from the Comayagua facility and the broader prison system while officials sought more details about what happened.
“We will do a full investigation to determine what caused this sad and unacceptable tragedy,” Lobo said in a televised statement.
Hundreds of anguished family members gathered at the prison gates to learn about the fates of the inmates, but information was mostly in short supply. The relatives clashed briefly with police, according to news reports from the scene.
The blaze was the latest in a series of deadly fires and riots in Honduran prisons in recent years. Rioting by inmates is common in Honduras and elsewhere in Latin America, where prison conditions are generally squalid and unsafe.