At least two teens were killed and 15 other people were wounded in a clash between stick-wielding gangs in a juvenile detention center near Honduras’ capital city of Tegucigalpa this past Thursday. Both of the dead were 17-year-old inmates, according to the authorities in charge of the Renaciendo facility 25 km north of Tegucigalpa. Police […]
Contrary to a statement from the official spokesman to the media yesterday, the San Pedro Sula prison is still, in part, controlled by inmates. One section, module 18, is being held by the prisoners. Requests from the inmates in this area, for food, clothing, and time to be left alone, are being honored by prison […]
UPDATE: Tuesday, March 13th, Congress approved the transfer of land, located in Naco, Cortés where the construction of the detention center will take place. Twenty-five minutes from San Pedro Sula lies a country estate, complete with a home, large swimming pool, 130 heads of cattle, and a helipad. These 186 manzanas belonged to the Sinaloa […]
COMAYAGUA, Honduras — Two of the bodies were found facing one another in a large sink, their remains completely blackened. Others were squished together in the prison bathroom where they had sought refuge from the flames, their bodies an indistinguishable mass. If not for a split-second decision, Hector Daniel Martinez could have also died horrifically […]
OPINION: It’s unfortunate that it takes a prison fire killing 300 people to raise awareness of the problems with Latin America’s prison systems. Beyond this one terrible event, the general state of this hemisphere’s prisons are a daily human rights tragedy. Honduras is among the worst of the region, with serious overcrowding, undertrained staff and […]