At least 41 people dead after a strong fight in a women’s prison in Honduras

At least 41 people died and another seven were injured in a brawl and a fire registered this Tuesday in the Women’s Center for Social Adaptation (Cefas) near the capital of Hondurasfor which the security authorities ordered their immediate intervention.

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The spokesman for Public ministry, Yuri Moraconfirmed to journalists that “41 inmates have died so far, most are burned”but the final figure will be known until the end of the removal of corpses.

Until now, no authority of the National Penitentiary Institute (INP) of Honduras has reported the number of people killed or injured.

The president of the Association of Relatives of Deprived of Liberty, Delma Ordoneztold reporters that the brawl and fire at the Cephas they allegedly occurred after authorities notified new rules inside the jail.

Prison guards guard inmates at the Centro de Adaptación Social de la Mujer (CEFAS) prison after a fire following a fight between inmates in Tamara, some 25 km from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Orlando SIERRA / AFP) (ORLANDO SIERRA /)

The Vice Minister of Security, Julissa Villanuevaordered an “immediate intervention” in the jail after declaring an emergency due to the fight and assured that the authorities “We will not tolerate acts of vandalism or irregularities”.

Villanueva told reporters that the brawl is “product of the actions of organized crime” in response to the intervention announced by the authorities in the prisons of Ilama, in Santa Bárbara, in the west of the country, and of Ceibain it Caribbean.

In Cephas It has been “reactivated the vandalism and women, with weapons and balaclavas, set fires”but the fire was already controlled by the Honduran Fire Departmentsaid Villanueva, who has been appointed by the Honduran president, Xiomara Castroto lead an intervention of the country jails.

Prison guards guard inmates at the Centro de Adaptación Social de la Mujer (CEFAS) prison after a fire following a fight between inmates in Tamara, some 25 km from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on June 20, 2023. (Photo by Orlando SIERRA / AFP) (ORLANDO SIERRA /)

The Honduran authorities announced on April 18 a set of measures to bring order to the country’s prisons that imply the cell phone call blockinga real disarmament of the prisoners and the classification of the prisoners by dangerousness.

Since April, a dozen shootings or confrontations have been recorded in the prisons of Honduraswhere overpopulation and overcrowding prevail, the lack of adequate and safe physical facilities for the inmate accommodationand the hygiene and sanitation conditions are deplorable.

Source: Elcomercio