E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe jail in Comayagua, Honduras, was reportedly started by an inmate. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
Updated at 7:40 p.m. ET: TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- A Honduran supreme court judge says officials have confirmed 358 dead in a fire that tore through a prison late Tuesday, making it the worst of its kind in at least a century.
Justice Richard Ordonez, who is leading the investigation, said that with 856 prisoners packed into barracks, the farm prison in the Comayagua province north of the capital was at double capacity.
Officials had earlier said that as many as 356 people died, but then revised the death toll lower on Wednesday afternoon. By evening, authorities confirmed 358 dead. The local governor, a former prison employee, told reporters that an inmate called her moments before the fire and said he was going to set the 1940s-era facility on fire and kill everyone inside.
Survivors told investigators that an unidentified inmate screamed "We will all die here!" as he lit fire to his bedding late Tuesday night in the prison in the central town of Comayagua. The lockup housed people convicted of serious crimes such as homicide and armed robbery.
The blaze spread within minutes, killing about 100 inmates in their cells as firefighters struggled to find officials who had keys, Comayagua fire department spokesman Josue Garcia said. Prisons in the U.S. and other more developed nations have locks that can be released automatically in an emergency.
"We couldn't get them out because we didn't have the keys and couldn't find the guards who had them," Garcia said.
Six drowned after trying to seek refuge in a water tank inside the prison. Other prisoners were set free by guards but died from the flames or smoke as they tried to flee into the fields surrounding the facility, where prisoners grow corn and beans on a state-run farm for sale in the neighboring town. Rescuers carried shirtless, semi-conscious prisoners from the facility by their arms and legs. One hauled a victim away from the fire by piggyback.
"I saw the smoke from cell block 6 and it spread throughout the prison," said Ever Lopez, 24, who was serving time for homicide. "The other prisoners and I broke through the roof with our bare hands and fled. Thank God I'm alive."
Paola Castro, the governor of Comayagua state, said at a press conference that she had received a call several minutes before the first reports of a fire from a prisoner whom she did not name, who told her that "I will set this place on fire and we are all going to die!"
Little control inside prison
Officials have long had little control of conditions inside many Honduran prisons, where inmates have largely unfettered access to mobile phones and other contraband. A woman visiting her partner was among the victims.
Castro once worked as a secretary at the prison and is known by many inmates. She said she called the Red Cross and firefighters immediately to alert them of the danger.
Two employees of a hotel near the prison told The Associated Press that firefighters took between 20 and 30 minutes to arrive, and by then the flames had nearly subsided. The local fire chief said his men were there within 10 minutes.
A prisoner identified as Silverio Aguilar told HRN Radio that he first knew something was wrong when he heard a scream of "Fire! fire!"
"For a while, nobody listened. But after a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity, a guard appeared with keys and let us out," he said.
He said there had been 60 prisoners packed into his cell.
Some 475 people escaped and 356 are missing and presumed dead, said Hector Ivan Mejia, a spokesman for the Honduras Security Ministry. He said 21 people had been injured.
A 1930 prison fire in Ohio killed at least 320 prisoners.
Honduras has one of the world's highest rates of violent crime, and its overcrowded and dilapidated prisons have been hit by a string of deadly riots and fires in recent years. Officials have repeatedly pledged to improve conditions, only to say they don't have sufficient funds.
According to government statistics, the Comayagua prison was built in the 1940s for 400 people but held more than 800 prisoners watched over by about 100 guards.
"It's strange because the Comayagua prison has been a model of tranquility," Castro told reporters.
Honduran President Porfirio Lobo said on national television that he had suspended the country's top penal officials and said he would request international assistance in carrying out a thorough and transparent investigation.
"This is a day of profound sadness," he said.
Outraged relatives of dead inmates tried to storm the gates of the prison Wednesday morning to recover the remains of their loves ones, witnesses told The Associated Press. The crowds were driven back by police officers firing tear gas.
'We want to see the body'
Channel 5 television showed dozens of inmates' relatives hurling rocks at officers.
"We want to see the body," said Juan Martinez, whose son was reported dead. "We'll be here until we get to do that."
The prison housed people convicted of serious crimes such as murder, Danilo Orellana, director of the national prison system, told The Associated Press. The convicts are allowed to work outside, however, unlike those held in a maximum-security facility for the most dangerous prisoners in the capital.
It sits in the middle of irrigated fields and several large ponds, and appears to be comprised of eight buildings set closely together. Beyond the fields are the city streets of the town of Comayagua. A single dirt, tree-lined road leads in, passing a soccer field on the property. There is an open, dirt prison yard within the central compound.
A few blocks from the prison, Comayagua bustles with fast-food restaurants, hotels and gas stations.
Fire officials said the fire started around 10:50 p.m. Tuesday when the inmate set his bedding alight.
"Some of his cellmates said that he screamed: 'We will all die here!' And in five minutes everything burned," Orellana said. He did not identify the man or speculate about his motivation. Leonel Silva, fire chief in Comayagua, a town 90 miles (140 kilometers) north of the capital, confirmed Orellana's account to reporters on the scene.
A 2004 prison fire killed more than 100 incarcerated gang members in a state prison north of the Honduran capital. A fire a year earlier at a nearby facility killed 70 gang members. In 1994, a fire sparked by an overheated refrigerator motor in an overcrowded Honduras prison killed 103 people.
Honduran authorities have repeatedly pledged to improve conditions but human rights groups say little has been done in the country of 7.6 million people, a major transit route for drugs headed from South America to the United States.
The U.S. State Department has criticized Honduras for "harsh prison conditions" and violence against detainees.
"This is a problem that's existed for a long time and the solutions haven't been applied, but now we have to do something even though we don't have the money," Security Minister Pompeyo Bonilla told reporters.
The U.S. sent help from a base at Soto Cano Air Base, about 15 minutes away.
U.S. Military Staff Sgt. Bryan Franks said smoke was no longer visible above the city, and that his team included four vehicles made up of a 10-man medical team, security guards and firefighters.
Hundreds of relatives rushed to Santa Teresa Hospital in Comayagua state to learn the fate of their loved ones, Silva said.
Lucy Marder, chief of forensic medicine for the prosecutor's office, said she believed the death toll would rise and it would take at least three months to identify victims, some burned beyond recognition, because DNA tests will be required.
Honduras has 24 prisons, 23 for men or both genders, and one exclusively for women. In December, the total prison population was 11,846 of which 411 were women.
Orlando Sierra / AFP - Getty Images
Firefighters enter the prison after the fire broke out late Tuesday.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Leave a Comment:
What do you want to bet this prison housed political prisoners?
If the fire was started by the prisoners, they have no one to blame but themselves. It's tragic to hear of so many dead but starting a fire in a prison is asking to be killed and those with you.
i guess that sort of cleans up the appeals court agenda.if they didnt break the law they wouldnt be there . who knows how many other crimes they committed that they never got caught for . there own rap sheet is probably ten times longer than the official one
If the criminal justice system has worked and you don't punish people who you don't think deserve to die in a fire then nobody would be missing them since you'll only have the trash of the civilization being burned up into ashes. But yes the justice system is only a tool for the powerful and the rich to oppress those who are not so these deaths are on their hands. Go defend them again coz you may one day be one of those who are rich and powerful and above the system, don't give up your hope.
All this horror from one burning mattress?? Was this hellhole made out of wood?? Couldn't find the keys?? Some prison authorities' heads must roll here !!
Isn't Honduras where MS-13 originated.I say these criminals wont be missed. Just less problems for us here in the U.S., and Mexico.
That is a horrible way to die.... yes they were criminals but they were human beings...think about how many innocent ppl are in our system and those lucky few who get our because of the advancements in science....I wonder how many were actually innocent that had to parish in such a harsh way...and to those who weren't..You didn't get what you deserved in this life but now...now you will.
Dradclif, I agree, less scum to deal with.
all of these people would have lived if they were not criminals.now there country does not have to feed and care of them. If that happened in the US the taxpayer would have saved three million a month. what I don't get is why anybody is caring about what happens in a prison, one person in a million may be innocent all the rest are at least two time losers or guity of something they are not doing time for. The jails in this country have better living conditions the 80% of the countries in the world.
So an inmate decided to take himself and everyone around him out of this world. Do I feel bad? For their families, yes. For them, no. Everyone that died in this fire had a choice to live another day or die some other way. Their life choices put them in the line of fire. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". If you don't want to be burned alive in a jail cell by some nut job, then don't put yourself in a positiion for this to happen. Do I think they deserved what they got? No, but again, they had a choice.
ever been in a third world prison? as a prisoner? i have, both as a visiting minister and an inmate, i was falsely accused of causing a police car to crash....because i stopped to render aid....third world prison systems are corrupt, drug infested, violence driven environments, there is no rehabilitation, except for those who interest themselves in Bible studies, etc. the justice system slowly grinds forward, sometimes a court hearing can be two years in the waiting...this is not added to your sentence as time served, i had to be fed from outside, there is no end to the lawyers who take peoples money and disappear....beds? please! Some deserve this hell, real animals in human skin, but "short timers"are piled in with them, where they learn to survive at all costs.
"Stop breaking the law a$$hole"
but, eeeeee guy eeeeeeeee!
Auschwitz, South America style.
Now if this would only happen here in our overcrowded prisons. Don't feel sorry for them because if they didn't commit the crime, they wouldn't have been there in the first place. Why is the U.S. State Dept. criticizing the conditions? We need to mind our own business which is why we have problems with other countries. These escaped prisoners will probably be heading to the U.S. There are enough Hispanics here now.
Now if this would only happen here in our overcrowded prisons. Don't feel sorry for them because if they didn't commit the crime, they wouldn't have been there in the first place.
___________________________________________________________________________
JLD: Let me make sure I understand what you're saying. Are wishing that US prisons would experience such a fire? And do you mean that regardless of what crime placed them in prison, that all inmates there deserved to burn to death? If so, I can only feel sorry for someone with such a benighted outlook as you.
For any one to claim that it's what these people deserved. Heartless and cold you are now, as you will be when you die. hope fate doesn't judge you as you do them, because sometimes it's funny how that works, it's called karma.
My question is of those unaccounted for. How many escaped? Does anyone think that the prisoners that managed to get out lined up in an orderly fashion outside the prison waiting to be put back inside?
Hope the Guards are Ok and made it out safely. The prisoners were murderers so Who Cares? I know most people don't. And the fire will help overcrowding so it was a blessing in disguise. Now they can put more murderers away!
Well it will save the tax payers money supporting these criminals for years,years. Most of them were probably on death row anyway.I don't feel sorry for them.Most of them are probably rapist,murderers,drug dealers. Their going to burn in Hell anyway,so now they got a taste of what Hell is like.Also the people they torchered,murdered,raped,now they the know the pain that person went through. No Mercy. Down size the prison too. If you have an over crowded prison things like this happen. They probably set it on fire to down size inmates and get a new prison.
Ok, first of all how can you comment about the facilities as "harsh prison conditions" compared to the Death penalty, they are both at the same level if not worse. Honduras is one the poorest countries in the world, dont expect to have nice facilities. Most of the people is iliterate, dont expect them to treat the prisoners nicely and also Honduras is one of the most corrupted countries in the world of course the government failed at making this building safe when they keep the money for it and it is clear that they are hiding something with this fire.
But anyways, it seems that a lot of you people dont understand the situation and conditions of this country, dont critize it like that... It's the governments fault!
The comments on here is why there is so much war going on, no one gets along and everyone jumps to conclusions of what they think is right. Until the facts are out dont judge with your snid comments about their country,put your nose down a bit and check out your own situation! If you murder someone rape or hurt gods children in any way and you are found GUILTY by a court of law you deserve every thing you get.
Holy Guacamole
What a horrible story. No one deserves to die in that manner.
For those of you saying that these people deserved to die, think of the innocent people that were in this prison due to corruption, stealing to feed their families because the economy is so poor, for questioning the goverment, etc. This is not a country that investigates crimes thoroughly and without error. Nor is this a country in which people are presummed innocent until proven guilty.
"Nor is this a country in which people are presummed innocent until proven guilty."
Sadly, neither is the U.S.
My older brother is serving a prison sentence. 7 years mandatory sentence, assault one charge. Why? He decked a guy in a bar fight. He was in the Oregon Army National Guard and was about to ship out to Afghanistan. He has the Louisiana State Medal of Honor for his actions after Katrina. Don't tell me my brother's case isn't a typical one. Most people in prison are not evil vile murderers and rapists. So I am sick and tired of reading comments on here saying good riddance and that these people deserved to die. It literally sickens me to read "The US could do with a few prison fires....." As the good law abiding citizens all of you on here claim to be, what happened to your humanity?
I think the humanity went down the tubes when they read about Honduras being the murder capital of the world.
Whats the full story? Your brother wouldnt get 7 years if he just punched a guy... what happened to the guy, did he have critical injuries, a punch isnt just a punch anymore, it can lead to death, the guy suffers severe head trama, falls on something from getting punched. Please....... Also, where is your brother in jail? Somwhere where that has the highest murder rate................
Or maybe your brother should of had a better attorney, I have a feeling theres more to this story, especially if this was in the US and the judge knew of your brothers history with the Army National Guard and being shipped to Aghanistan......
Agreed! I am sure there were more than a few innocent men in that prison who burned to death as well. Just like we execute innocent people here in the U.S. Just like I said in another post my 82 year old father almost went to jail over a parking ticket that my brother got in his truck but never told him about or paid it. They came to arrest him but ended up letting him pay for the ticket instead. I am sure stuff like this happens all the time and innocent people do go to jail all the time so not everyone in there is a criminal and deserves to die like that.
It truly amazes me how much pity we have, for murders, rapist and child molesters. They get there day in court some get off. Casey Anthony circus others go to prison. All of the sudden no one deserves the treatment a prisoner gets. Must be hard on them, three meals, exercise all day and wait to get out, wait for drugs to be smugged in sexually abuse each other. Of course it is ALL societies fault. I look at this story as one way to clear out the overcrowded prisons. Better then How Castro did it and now Miami is destroyed. Sorry. Or maybe they were all innocent I love that comment. LOL
It truly amazes me how much pity we have, for murders, rapist and child molesters.
Yeah, kinda like Jesus did---truly amazing.
They get there day in court some get off.
Maybe because some were guilty and others innocent.
Casey Anthony circus others go to prison.
No comment here---can't make sense of it.
All of the sudden no one deserves the treatment a prisoner gets. Must be hard on them, three meals, exercise all day and wait to get out, wait for drugs to be smugged in sexually abuse each other.
Sounds like you're an expert on the conditions in prisons in general, or in Honduran prisons specifically. Where does that expertise come from?
Of course it is ALL societies fault.
Who, exactly, is saying that? I believe that one can agree that there's a need to deal appropriately with criminals, while stopping short of saying that all prisoners deserve to die in a fire.
I look at this story as one way to clear out the overcrowded prisons.
Hopefully you have zero influence on policy-making anywhere.
Better then How Castro did it and now Miami is destroyed. Sorry.
Last time I went to Miami it didn't seem destroyed. And what are you sorry about?
Or maybe they were all innocent I love that comment. LOL.
How 'bout this: No they were not innocent. So what?