13 inmates killed in Honduran prison riot

At least 13 inmates were killed and another 30 wounded in a shootout between rival groups inside Honduras’ biggest prison, the latest bloodshed to hit the country’s overcrowded and ageing jails.

The clash today came inside a cell block housing 400 of the most dangerous prisoners doing time at the National Penitentiary in Tegucigalpa, where least 27 inmates were murdered in 2005, most by their cellmates.

“The confrontation was between two rival groups of prisoners who fired shots at each other in a territorial dispute,” said Honduran Security Minister Armando Calidonio.

He said officials had yet to determine how inmates got guns into the prison located on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, but said police were “intensively investigating” the clash.

The clash, however, did not appear to involve the feared “Mara” street gangs who have taken part in violent prison riots in the past.

Police and guards regained control of the facility, and soldiers were also posted outside the prison amid fears that criminal groups might have started the gun battle to cover a larger uprising or mass escape.

“The situation has been controlled by the authorities, and police patrols have been established around the penitentiary to avoid problems or mass escapes,” Calidonio said.

Soon after the confrontation, inmates’ bodies lay in pools of blood within the cellblock, some with gunshot wounds to the head and others with gashes apparently made by home-made knives or machetes. The cell block houses men serving sentences for murder, rape, robbery and drug trafficking.

The National Penitentiary was built to hold 1,500 inmates, but currently houses 3,126.

Honduras’ cramped and crumbling prisons have frequently been the scene of riots and fights between the country’s 13,000 prisoners.

Nearly 600 prisoners rioted at the National Penitentiary in 2004 to protest the transfer of four of their leaders to another facility. No injuries were reported in that incident.

About 100 prisoners, mostly Mara gang members, have died in fights at other Honduran prisons over the past three years.

In 2004, a fire broke out in a cell block housing 182 gang inmates at another prison in the northern city of San Pedro Sula, killing more than 100 prisoners.

Firefighters said the flames were sparked by overheated electrical cables from the domestic appliances the prisoners had been using.

Only about 30% of inmates in Honduran prisons have been convicted; most wait anywhere from five to eight years for their cases to be decided.