Cell 6 Inmate May Have Set Prison Fire

Honduras Weekly
The Governor of Honduras' department of Comayagua, Paola Castro, today said that her office received a telephone call at approximately 11:10 pm last night from an inmate at the National Penitentiary of Comayagua saying, "I am going to set fire to this [prison] and we are all going to die. We will burn... all of us will burn together." Governor Castro, a former prison employee, said she immediately called the Red Cross and the Comayagua fire brigade. The inmate has been identified as Elvin José Colindres Ramírez. According to the Associated Press, the director of the national prison system, Danilo Orellana, stated that survivors of the blaze had told investigators that a fellow prisoner in Cell 6 had set fire to his mattress and yelled, "We will all die in here." The spokesperson for the National Police, Héctor Iván Mejía, confirmed that he had information suggesting that the fire was deliberately started by an inmate. "Apparently it was a person who was inside who produced the fire..."

A total of 377 people are confirmed dead, including three women who were staying overnight at the prison, and the chief of Comayagua's fire department. (2/15/12) (photo of burned prisoners courtesy La Prensa)