More than 100 die in prison inferno

More than 100 Honduran gang members perished after a short-circuit started a fire that tore through an overcrowded prison block.

It was the second deadly prison fire in Honduras in just over a year, and Vice President Vicente Williams promised to find funds to improve the overcrowded penal system.

“Honduras’ jails are a time bomb,” Williams said at the damaged prison in San Pedro Sula, 110 miles north of the capital Tegucigalpa.

The fire in the cell block housing 186 gang members killed at least 103 prisoners. Some were burned to death, while others died from smoke inhalation. More than two dozen others were taken to hospitals.

All appeared to be members of Mara Salvatrucha 13, one of the most violent of Central America’s gangs. They had been isolated in the cell block to prevent prison clashes.

A little less than a year ago, a violent clash between imprisoned gang members left nearly 70 people dead, including guards and visitors.

Many of the imprisoned gang members killed yesterday were detained during the country’s recent crackdown on gang violence. In August, Maduro succeeded in passing legislation outlawing gangs and establishing minimum sentences of 12 years for gang members.

The new law has seriously exacerbated already severe overcrowding in the country’s jails.

Honduras’ prisons consist of 27 old buildings housing 13,000 prisoners, twice their capacity. The prison in San Pedro has room for 800 prisoners, but held 1,960 at the time of the fire, police commissioner Wilmer Torres said.

Officials initially said the fire was caused by an overheated refrigerator because inmates said they heard the appliance explode. But firefighters later said it appeared an air conditioner short circuit was to blame.

Hundreds of concerned relatives rushed to the prison seeking information as officials placed the bodies of dead inmates in rows on the ground, their elaborate signature tattoos visible on exposed chests and arms. The bodies were later removed and transported in refrigerated trucks to other sites.

Back at the jail, about 60 inmates who survived the fire, some with light burns, were living on a basketball court under a giant tent. Officials brought in mattresses and food for them, and heavily armed police stood guard outside the chain-link fence surrounding the court. Officials said they would likely be moved to a new jail later.

President Ricardo Maduro said he would cut short a European state visit in response to the fire.

Torres said no prisoners escaped. Most inmates were asleep when the fire broke out shortly after midnight.

“Everything happened fast,” prisoner Jose Mauricio Lopez told a Honduran radio station from his hospital bed. “We woke up with our clothes and our beds in flames.”

Firefighters brought the blaze under control quickly, but it already had consumed a large part of the jail when they arrived.

San Pedro Sula Mayor Oscar Kilgore said the city would donate wooden coffins for the dead.

Prison spokesman Jose Bustillo said many of the gang members tried to attack the firefighters when they arrived, prompting guards to fire in the air “to prevent a massive prisoner escape”.

One of the surviving prisoners, Pablo Cardona, however, claimed that guards “fired at us repeatedly from outside the cell block to stop us from leaving, despite our cries for help”.

Fire chief Alfonso Medina said none of the bodies showed evidence of gunshot wounds.

Human rights groups who have pushed for alternatives to jail terms for young gang members demanded an investigation.

“What happened in the San Pedro Sula jail is painful and terrible,” said Jose Manuel Capellin, of the humanitarian group Casa Alianza. “There is repression against the gang members. The government only offers them jail.”

Maduro said his administration was trying to improve prison overcrowding.

There are more than 100,000 gang members belonging to 500 different gangs in Honduras. Most of the members are between eight and 35.