Honduras has transferred hundreds of suspected gang members to a new maximum security prison in a bid to stamp out criminal activity in the country’s overcrowded…
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Honduras has transferred hundreds of suspected gang members to a new maximum security prison in a bid to stamp out criminal activity in the country’s overcrowded jails.
Under a heavy security escort, suspected members of the infamous Salvatrucha MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs were loaded onto trucks and transferred from a prison in Tamara to new facilities in the remote La Tolva and El Pozo regions.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez said 2,000 prisoners in total are to be transferred.
He said: “We will continue to stop prisons from being organised for all types of criminal acts. We’ve already seen how the transfer of those held in San Pedro Sula generated a new reality.”
Hundreds of them are suspected members of the notorious Salvatrucha MS-13 and Barrio 18 gangs from a prison in Tamara.
Prisons in Honduras are notorious hot beds of gang activity, with drug dealing, violence and escapes common in the country’s overcrowded facilities.
There are just 30 jails in the Central American country, housing some 17,000 inmates, more than double its prison capacity.
The United Nations lists Honduras as one of the world’s most murderous nations.