Honduras has a dysfunctional and underfunded prison system with overcrowded facilities and insufficient staff. This was the judgment of the OAS’s Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in a case brought by the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH) and the Centro por la Justicia y el Derecho Internacional (CEJIL) in 2006 concerning the death of a prisoner. By coincidence, there will be a hearing in Costa Rica on 28 February concerning another tragic fire in a Honduran jail — the death of 107 prison in the Centro Penal Sampedrano prisoners in 2004. For more details (in Spanish), go to CEJIL.
The Inter-American court of Human Rights (IACHR) will be sending A special delegation to investigate the deaths in the next few days. The delegation was requested by José Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the OAS. For more details (in Spanish) go to La Prensa.