Honduras Prison Riot Deaths to rise if the Inmates’ Requests are not granted by the Government
(Photo : Reuters)

According to a statement released on Monday by the top officials of the national security of Honduras, a gang named Mara Salvatrucha or the MS-13 had started the Honduras prison riot. The riots had resulted in the death of thirty-seven inmates since Friday of last week.

According to the statement of Luis Suazo, the Security Minister Assistant, MS-13 had started the riots in Honduran prisons to make the government take back the emergency actions passed from the previous week. He said that the authorities have sufficient information pointing to the MS-13 gang as the head of the riots. The attacks were reported to have been started by the members of the MS-13 group.

The government of Honduras had announced on Tuesday its declaration of a state of emergency in all of those under the National Prison System of Honduras. The decision desires to end the large volume of weapons found in prison. The declaration also includes a reduction of visitation hours for every inmate.

According to Suazo, the declaration of the state of emergency in all those under the National Prison System of the country had broken the somewhat harmonious relationship the government has with the MS-13 gang. Before the declaration, the MS-13 gang was freely doing illegal transactions inside prisons.

The Honduras prison riot that had occurred on Sunday in the highest-security prison in El Porvenir had now increased to eighteen deaths. Last Friday, nineteen were dead after prisoners had fought with each other in the prison of Tela City.

Corruption had given way for inmates to conduct illicit trading activities while inside the prison. Some were observed to have smuggled guns inside prison cells. There were also knives found. Many prisoners were even operating illegal businesses inside their prison cells.

According to Raul Pineda Alvarado (a security analyst), the prisoners were running trade activities in prisons despite the presence of security personnel. The prisoners possessed sufficient money to function as a banking institution. 

The government's response to the issue was the establishment of the National Inter-agency Security Force. It is run by the country's military and police force. Upon the start of the newly established force, it had implemented strict measures involving the National Prison System of Honduras. It had decreased the total number of visiting hours per inmate and had started its investigations for corrupt prison guards.

The act of the newly established security force in the country combined with the undesirable conditions in prisons such as overcrowding had resulted in riots. According to one of the inmates, they will continue the riots until their request for the cancellation of the cut of visitation hours is acted upon by the Honduran government.

According to Pineda Alvarado, the riots in the prisons of Honduras is the consequence of having a prison system that is rich in corruption and inefficiency. An example of this was the riots last week where the victims who died in the incident were killed through the deadly weapons that were smuggled in the prison cells.

The MS-13 gang members and others had placed dominance over the prisons in Honduras. The MS-13 gang had been the long rivals of the imprisoned Barrio 18 gang.

According to Pineda Alvarado, if no corrective measures are acted upon by the government, then the deaths from Honduras prison riots will continue to rise.