Honduras wants to build a single island prison colony for gangs

Honduras plans to build the only island prison colony in the Western Hemisphere and send its most feared gang members there, following the example of neighboring El Salvador, which does not forgive murder, robbery, rape and extortion.

The progressive president of Honduras promised in her day confront gang violence through systemic reforms of governance and the criminal justice system. Now, Xiomara Castro plans to build an isolated prison for 2,000 gang leaders in the Islas del Cisne archipelago, almost 250 kilometers from the coast, as part of her broad offensive following the gang-linked massacre of 46 women in a penal.

In the past, island prisons were common throughout Latin America, with facilities in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, and Peru. Deadly riots, poor conditions and daring escapes captured the imaginations of filmmakers and writers before the last one closed, in Mexico, in 2019.

In Honduras, authorities are betting that a return to the past will help stem the wave of violence, but skeptics say these measures are little more than a matter of image and do not address the root causes of endemic violence.

“A new prison is useless if the existing ones are not regained control first,” said Tiziano Breda, an expert on Latin America at the Italian think tank Istituto Affari Internazionali. “Throughout their history, gangs have shown who know how to adapt.”

Last month, 46 women were killed in a fight between members of rival gangs in a jail. Many of the deceased were shot and killed with machetes. Some were locked in their cells, where they were doused with flammable liquid and set on fire in the worst massacre in a women’s prison in recent history.

Castro said he would take “drastic measures” in response and go after Barrio 18 and the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gangs that have terrorized the country for years.

The only way to communicate with the Islas del Cisne is by satellite, said José Jorge Fortín, head of the Honduran Armed Forces, in an interview with The Associated Press. The authorities hope to prevent gang leaders from continuing to run their operations from inside prisons. Escape would be difficult since, from the mainland, it takes almost a day to reach the archipelago by boat.

“It is considered to be the furthest away for these criminals, these gang leadersfeel the pressure once they are on the island,” said Fortin. “The idea is that they lose contact with everything, (the) contact with all of society (…) and that they truly pay for the crimes.”

Fortín did not specify the cost of the project or when it is expected to be completed, but affirmed that the president ordered it to be built as soon as possible.

Since the massacre, Castro’s social media profiles have posted images of weapons being seized and of men with gang tattoos sitting on the ground with their legs spread, half-naked and hunched over, surrounded by heavily armed police officers.

These images are a reflection of those seen in neighboring El Salvador, where its president, Nayib Bukele, has imprisoned one in every 100 inhabitants and put thousands of them in a “mega jail.” Bukele has claimed that the inmates will never see the light of day again, while the human rights group Cristosal estimates that only 30% of prisoners have clear ties to the gangs, stoking allegations of human rights abuses and democratic deterioration.

The sharp decline in violence in El Salvador has sparked a kind of pro-Bukele populist fervor across Latin America.

“If there in that country they have done something good, why not copy it?” Fortin pointed out. “We are not going to allow this atmosphere of terror to continue.”

But Breda said the move is moving the country away from policies like rooting out corruption, demilitarization and community policing, which could make a difference in the long run in addressing the root causes of violence in The gang.

Honduras’ security policy “has become even more reactive and short-sighted, imitating what is happening in El Salvador to contain its public image for the year,” Breda said.

The proposed measures are being welcomed by many Hondurans, such as Said Santos, a 30-year-old biologist who said that “putting an end to the crime situation here in Honduras once and for all would be ideal for this country.” But he added that the government should exercise caution.

Meanwhile, biologists in the region fear the project could take away the island’s highly biodiverse ecosystems, at a time when the Caribbean is already being devastated by the effects of climate change.

For the most part uninhabited, the location of the prison has been in a protected territory for more than three decades. In a statement issued last week, the Honduran College of Biologists called the infrastructure a “threat” to the nature of the island, whose lush landscapes and brilliant blue waters teem with life.

“A penal center is incompatible with the ecosystems, the species, the scenic beauty and the climatic conditions of the archipelago,” the organization stated.

Lucky Medina, the country’s secretary of Natural Resources and the Environment, told the AP that the maximum-security prison will be built “in harmony with nature,” adding that authorities will follow environmental protections, ensuring that it will be built.

“It’s totally viable,” he added.