Since November 2019, at least 55 killings have taken place inside Honduras’ prison system, according to InSight Crime’s count of murders by inmates reported in local media. Officials did not respond to requests for these figures.
The most recent killings occurred on August 6, when three suspected Barrio 18 gang members were found strangled in La Tolva prison, east of Tegucigalpa, Proceso Digital reported.
Digna Aguilar, a spokeswoman for the National Prison Institute (Instituto Nacional Penitenciario), told InSight Crime in a text message that the area of the prison where the crime occurred only houses “members of the same gang.” For this reason, authorities say the massacre likely had to do with an internal conflict among Barrio 18 gang members, a version of events also reported by local media. Aguilar said in a press conference that authorities are still investigating.
