Deadly Honduran fire could be repeated in prisons across Central America, experts warn

 

The world’s worst prison fire in a century happened in a lockup like many in Honduras: a decrepit, suffocating place of overcrowded, dark cellblocks where many inmates were accused only of petty crimes. Experts warn a similar disaster could happen again in Central America, where a decade of crackdowns on drug trafficking, gangs and out-of-control street crime has left the region dotted with fire-prone prisons often crammed with more than twice the number of inmates they can safely handle.  Hundreds of prisoners remained in cellblocks unaffected by the fire that tore the overcrowded jail on Feb. 15, burning and suffocating 356 men in their locked cells. “You have this tremendous public security crisis and the quick answer that prevailed for all of these years is ‘iron fist,’” said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director for Human Rights Watch.