Honduras' 24 prisons 'in control of inmates'

[webfact]

Honduras' 24 prisons 'in control of inmates'

The Honduras government has effectively given up on rehabilitating criminals and left prisons to be controlled by their inmates, according to a new report.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said the country's prisons were impoverished, overcrowded and corrupt.
It called on the authorities to deal with what it called a deep structural crisis.

The report comes after a fire killed some 360 prisoners in February 2012.

Inmates at the Comayagua prison north of Tegucigalpa were trapped in their cells when the blaze broke out.

Government figures show more than 12,000 people in Honduras are currently incarcerated in prisons that were built for just 8,000.

The Washington-based Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said the jails are under the de-facto command of inmates - often belonging the country's violent criminal gangs - who even set rules and enforce physical punishments.
It also said women share prisons with men and are often victims of abuse.

Voice of Russia, BBC

Source: http://english.ruvr.ru/news/2013_08_03/Honduras-24-prisons-in-control-of-inmates-2752/

-- THE VOICE OF RUSSIA 2013-08-03

[lungmi]

Hondura or Thailand?

[johnlandy]

Me too. I was wondering (still am) what Honduras has to do with Thailand

[sustento]

It is in the 'World News' forum...

[Nobelcat]

Government figures show more than 12,000 people in Honduras are currently incarcerated in prisons that were built for just 8,000.

I'm really surprised this is even news. California, USA has 119,300 inmates currently in its State prison system which was designed for around 68,000. Honduras is only 50% overcrowded.

http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-declines-halt-order-reduce-california-prison-194534061.html

[F430murci]

Government figures show more than 12,000 people in Honduras are currently incarcerated in prisons that were built for just 8,000.

I'm really surprised this is even news. California, USA has 119,300 inmates currently in its State prison system which was designed for around 68,000. Honduras is only 50% overcrowded.

http://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-declines-halt-order-reduce-california-prison-194534061.html

Perhaps Hondorus designs its very small cells to hold 4 times as many people as similarly sized cell in California. I dunno, but you have 2 in a cell in California and then you have 5 to 8 in a same sized cell in Hondorus.

-----

"It's horrifically overcrowded. The bunks are sometimes five, six, seven tiers high, with the lowest person on the totem pole sleeping underneath the bunk on the bottom," he told CNN from Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/15/world/americas/honduras-prison-conditions

-----

Overcrowding in prisons is an ongoing problem in Honduras, a country with one of the worlds highest murder rates. The prisoners at Comayagua also lived in deplorable conditions, with no medical or mental health care and less than $1 per day in food, the Guardian reports.

Latin Americas prisons have long been reported as inhumane. A New York Times reporter wrote in 1997: Walking through a prison in Peru is like stepping into a Hieronymus Bosch triptych of hell.

http://m.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/honduras-prison-fire-report-most-in-comayagua-had-not-been-charged-of-a-crime/2012/02/16/gIQAfqOiHR_blog.html

[sustento]

Honduras has some lovely beaches - and excellent bananas.

[Scott]

Honduras has some lovely beaches - and excellent bananas.

But it's apparently not a very good place to end up in prison.

Let's stay on topic.

[sustento]

Honduras has some lovely beaches - and excellent bananas.

But it's apparently not a very good place to end up in prison.

Let's stay on topic.

I would imagine that if you like bananas Honduras is as good a place as any to spend a little time in prison...

[Scott]

Oh my goodness.....

I give up.

I thought bananas were pretty much the same everywhere, but prison conditions vary widely.

(Now let's stay on the topic, please).

[belg]

well, if all the criminals start turning onto themselves, eventually the problem will be solved? not ?

cheap and efficient