Report: Most Honduras fire inmates awaited trial

[Judi Lynn]

Report: Most Honduras fire inmates awaited trial
By MARTHA MENDOZA and CHRISTINE ARMARIO
Associated Press
Published: Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 3:15 a.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 2:04 a.m.

The prisoners whose scorched bodies were carried out piece by piece Thursday morning from a charred Honduran prison had been locked inside an overcrowded penitentiary where most inmates had never been charged, let alone convicted, according to an internal Honduran government report obtained by The Associated Press.

More than half of the 856 inmates of the Comayagua farm prison north of the Central American country's capital were either awaiting trial or being held as suspected gang members, according to a report sent by the Honduran government this month to the United Nations.

A fire started by an inmate tore through the prison Tuesday night, burning and suffocating screaming men in their locked cells as rescuers desperately searched for keys. Officials confirmed 358 dead, making it the world's deadliest prison fire in a century.

Survivors told horrific tales of climbing walls to break the sheet metal roofing and escape, only to see prisoners in other cell blocks being burned alive. Inmates were found stuck to the roofing, their bodies fused to the metal.

More:
http://www.goupstate.com/article/20120216/API/1202160575

[malaise]

1. Murder plain and simple

where is due process of law on this planet?
I watched a clip and could not but cry.
Man to man is so unjust!

[Judi Lynn]

2. HRW calls for reduction of Latin America prison population

Thursday, February 16, 2012
HRW calls for reduction of Latin America prison population
Jamie Reese at 1:44 PM ET

(JURIST) Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] on Thursday called for the reduction of overcrowding [press release] to improve poor prison conditions in Latin America following a prison fire in Honduras. The fire occurred this past Tuesday and killed more than 300 inmates while injuring dozens more. According to HRW, Honduras prisoners suffer overcrowding which leads to poor prison conditions including inadequate nutrition and sanitation, all leading to the tragic result earlier this week. Americas Director at HRW, Jose Miguel Vivanco [official profile], stated, "The tragic deaths of hundreds of inmates, one of the worst incidents of its kind in the region, are ultimately the result of overcrowding and poor prison conditions, two longstanding problems in Honduras." According to local press, Honduras has 24 prisons with a total capacity of 8,000. These prisons currently hold 13,000 prisoners, well over capacity.

The US also has prison overcrowding concerns, particularly in California. Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF] in Brown v. Plata [Cornell LII backgrounder] to uphold an order requiring California to release up to 46,000 prisoners [JURIST report] to remedy the state's overcrowded prisons [JURIST news archive]. California submitted a plan [JURIST report] to comply with the court's order, but the state's Legislative Analyst's Office has concluded that California is unlikely to meet [JURIST report] the Supreme Court's two-year deadline. According to the International Center for Prison Studies [official website], the US has the most prisoners per capita [text, PDF] in the world.

http://jurist.org/paperchase/2012/02/hrw-calls-for-reduction-of-latin-america-prison-population.php

[Judi Lynn]

3. Many prisoners who burned to death in Honduras blaze were never convicted of a crime

Many prisoners who burned to death in Honduras blaze were never convicted of a crime
Reuters Feb 16, 2012 – 2:44 PM ET

By Ioan Grillo and Mike McDonald

COMAYAGUA, Honduras — Survivors of a Honduran jailhouse fire that killed more than 350 inmates accused prison guards of leaving prisoners to die trapped inside their cells and even firing on others when they tried to escape.

As torched bodies were pulled out of the prison complex on Thursday, relatives of victims, survivors and experts said massive overcrowding, guards’ negligence and a failed justice system were to blame for the disaster, which killed many inmates who had not even been convicted.

Unable to escape the inferno that tore through Comayagua National Penitentiary on Tuesday night, prisoners died screaming in vain to be let out of their cells.

Rosendo Sanchez, a convicted murderer serving a 10-year sentence, awoke as the blaze started. He escaped his building and says he saw guards firing at other inmates trying to escape.

More:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/16/many-prisoners-who-burned-to-death-in-honduras-blaze-were-never-convicted-of-a-crime/

[Judi Lynn]

4. Fatal prison fire was world's worst

Fatal prison fire was world's worst
Updated 35 minutes ago

The fire at a prison in Honduras on Tuesday night is now thought to be the world's worst prison fire in a century.

A death toll of 355 inmates has been confirmed. Most were burned alive or asphyxiated in their locked cells at the National Prison in Comayagua.

~snip~
AFP reports the coffins were donated by relatives of the dead.
The government has promised a full investigation into the tragedy. It says the entire prison system needs reform.

But the BBC says similar promises were made in 2004 when a fire at a prison in San Pedro Sula left 107 inmates dead.

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/world/98685/fatal-prison-fire-was-world's-worst

[Judi Lynn]

5. Prison fire exposes corruption, chaos in Honduras

Prison fire exposes corruption, chaos in Honduras
MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press, MARTHA MENDOZA, Associated Press
Updated 04:54 p.m., Thursday, February 16, 2012

COMAYAGUA, Honduras (AP) — Six guards, 800-plus prisoners in 10 cellblocks, one set of keys. The numbers spelled disaster when fire tore through a prison and 355 people died, many yet to even be charged with a crime, much less convicted.

The deadliest prison blaze in a century has exposed just how deep government dysfunction and confusion go in Honduras, a small Central American country with the world's highest murder rate.

Prisoners' scorched bodies were being brought to the capital of Tegucigalpa on Thursday for identification, a process authorities said could take weeks. Dozens of family members gathered outside the morgue wearing surgical masks against the strong smell of death as police called out the names of the less-charred victims who had been identified.

Most relatives said they didn't believe the authorities' account that a prisoner set a mattress on fire late Tuesday after threatening to burn down Comayagua prison, located 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Tegucigalpa.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Prison-fire-exposes-corruption-chaos-in-Honduras-3336074.php

[Judi Lynn]

6. Honduras prison blaze: 'I will set this place on fire and we are all going to die'

Honduras prison blaze: 'I will set this place on fire and we are all going to die'
David Usborne
Friday 17 February 2012

Recrimination and horror hung over the scorched remains of a farm penitentiary in Honduras yesterday after a blaze killed an estimated 358 inmates in the worst prison fire the world has seen in a century.

~snip~
That fewer than half the inmates had been convicted of a crime was revealed in Honduran government documents provided recently to the United Nations and seen by the Associated Press. While Honduras has the worst murder rate in Latin America, it has earned an unwelcome reputation for repression and mistreatment of prisoners and suspects. A Honduran can be imprisoned for having a tattoo if police think it indicates gang membership.

The stricken Comayagua prison, meanwhile, may have boasted the most inhumane conditions of any in the country. The UN documents showed that it had no mental or medical healthcare on the site and that it was built to hold a maximum of 500 inmates. For the more than 800 prisoners who were inside this week there were only 52 guards by day and 12 during the night. The prison's budget allowed for only $1 (65p) a day for each prisoner for food.

The tragedy threatens to catapult Hondurans into fresh political turmoil only two years after a coup in the country. "We're talking about a total breakdown of the state," warned Dana Frank, an expert on Latin American affairs at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

More:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/honduras-prison-blaze-i-will-set-this-place-on-fire-and-we-are-all-going-to-die-6988941.html

[Octafish]

7. ''Half were gang members.'' How many were political prisoners?

Honduras, for a too brief time, was a democracy.

http://m.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/nov/26/honduras-democracy-election-us?cat=commentisfree&type=article

That was 2009.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Honduras jail fire is sign of chaos in the original banana republic

Honduras jail fire is sign of chaos in the original banana republic
The Comayagua fire has highlighted the dysfunctional state's dismal cycle of corruption, poverty, crime and political violence
Rory Carroll, Latin America correspondent and Melissa Sanchez in Comayagua
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 21 February 2012 12.00 EST

When Honduras inspired the term "banana republic" a century ago, the description, though pejorative, had a darkly comic connotation.

~snip~
The horrific prison fire which killed 359 people last week – all of them inmates apart from one visiting wife – was just the latest sign that this once-sleepy country is enduring a crisis of state dysfunction, with tragic consequences. Last weekend, another blaze swept through three markets in Tegucigalpa, injuring 11 people and sending plumes of black smoke over the capital, symbolising for many a sense of events spiralling out of control. Then, on Monday, hundreds of relatives of the prisoners who suffocated or burned to death in the fire stormed a morgue to demand the remains. Police fired teargas to disperse them.

~snip~
A provisional government gave way to the election of President Porfirio Lobo, who has gradually gained international legitimacy, but critics say US aid focuses on military and counter-narcotics initiatives, not jobs and poverty.

Many Hondurans feel abandoned by the state, said Sanchez. "Social advances went into reverse. Faith in institutions has degenerated." Honduras, he said, was ruled by a handful of US-educated families which dominated the economy, media companies and state institutions. "They think it's theirs to run, they have a complete sense of entitlement."

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/21/honduras-dark-days-banana-republic