TEGUCIGALPA—At least 18 inmates were killed and 16 wounded during a fight between rival gangs in a Honduran penitentiary on Friday, authorities said, in one of the worst recent outbreaks of prison violence in the country.
Two days earlier, the government declared a state of emergency in the prison system, transferring control to security forces in a bid to clamp down on a recent wave of violence.
However, speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior military official told Reuters that security forces had not formally taken control of the prison in the northern port city of Tela, before the violence there broke out.
So far the toll from the bloody prison fight was 18 dead, as well as 16 injured, Antonio Coello, a spokesman for security agency FUSINA, told local television.
Security forces have since entered the penitentiary to restore order, authorities said.
Fights in Honduras’ overcrowded prisons are frequent as street gangs vie for control inside the institutions.
Known as maras, street gangs have made Honduras one of the most violent countries in the world.
Prison Shootout
Last Tuesday, Dec. 12, at least 12 people were killed and another 13 were injured during a shootout among inmates at a jail near Panama City, officials said.
Police said they seized several guns in the incident at La Joyita prison, 16 miles east of the capital, including five handguns and three long-barreled firearms.
The shooting occurred in a cell block that holds inmates who belong to a single local gang.
Alexis Muñoz, assistant director of the National Police, said such smuggling has been a longstanding problem and “there are many ways that weapons can get in.”
President Laurentino Cortizo, who took office in July, said the incident suggested jail guards helped smuggle in the weapons.
“These firearms didn’t fall out of the sky, there was obviously some type of cooperation there for firearms to be brought in,” he said in a statement.
Police official Alexis Munoz said the shooting originated from within the jail, where inmates are grouped according to gang affiliations to avoid confrontations, and that the cause was being investigated.
The Interior Department said no guards or prison personnel were injured in the confrontation and no escapes were reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
