On Feb. 14 in Honduras, 358 inmates were killed in a massive fire
in the crumbling, overcrowded prison in Comayagua. This is one in a
string of prison fires in Honduras over the past eight years exposing
what, at best, could be termed callous disregard from the Honduran
authorities towards prisoners’ human rights.
The massive fire trapped many prisoners in their cells; those
unable to escape by pushing out roof panels were burned alive. Most
of the dead were burned beyond recognition, and Red Cross volunteers
were reduced to collecting body parts in plastic bags. The Comayagua
prison, which was meant to hold 500 prisoners, had 850 prisoners
crowded inside its walls. This mirrors a national trend, with the
nation’s prison system occupancy being over two times its stated
capacity.
In 2003, in another facility, 68 prisoners were killed in a fire
after a so-called riot where guards shot and stabbed inmates. In
2004, a fire claimed 100 lives when guards kept prisoners locked in
their cells and shot those trying to escape the flames.
The harsh prison conditions in Honduras reflect the harsh social
reality for the masses of people. Two-thirds of children have no
access to clean water, proper sanitation or educational opportunity.
Overall 60 percent of people live below the poverty line, while in
the rural areas the rate approaches 65 percent. The majority face
poverty, lack of social services, and violence in a country run by
wealthy landowners who hold ever tighter to power after sponsoring a
right-wing coup in 2009. Dozens of campesino activists have been
killed by the military, police and private guards of landowners since
2009.
Some of these same landowners are major players in the
international drug trade and collaborate openly with the U.S.-backed
government. Crowded, dangerous prisons are a result of the callous,
brutal system of capital accumulation deployed by the Honduran elite
and their American sponsors.
The U.S. government, too, displays callous disregard towards the
incarcerated. In U.S. prisons, the world’s most populous, problems
such as overcrowding, malnutrition and lack of proper medical care
are widespread. Torturous solitary confinement cells are deployed
with regularity and a militarized police dragnet heavily concentrated
in the most economically exploited areas accompanies this system of
mass incarceration.
On Feb. 20, the Occupy movement is calling a National Day of
Action in Solidarity with Prisoners, highlighting the injustices of
America’s prison system. Actions such as these are part of a
growing movement against mass incarceration around the nation.
Whether in the United States or Honduras, confronting social problems
means confronting the social system: capitalism.
