Honduras: Military Police Enter Two Maximum Security Prisons

On Thursday, the Military Police (PMOP) simultaneously intervened in two maximum security prisons as part of the "Faith and Hope" operation launched by President Xiomara Castro on Monday.

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The intervention took place at the Ilama prison in the department of Santa Barbara and the El Porvenir prison in Francisco Morazan.

Thousands of military police officers are seeking to restore "governance, order, control, and proper management of the penitentiary centers," according to the National Penitentiary Institute (INP).

Similar to other intervened prisons, the prisoners at Ilama and El Porvenir, each with a capacity of 2,000 people, were made to sit on the prison yard floor, wearing shorts, barefoot, and shirtless.

At the El Porvenir prison, the military police seized four AK-47 rifles, surveillance cameras, an Uzi submachine gun, ammunition, magazines, drugs, and mobile phones.

Meanwhile, in the Ilama prison, the authorities confiscated marijuana plants, high-caliber weapons, and ammunition.

"The operations are carried out with strict respect for the human rights of the prisoners, with the specific objective of providing them safe spaces, free from threats, and protection for their physical integrity," stated the INP.

The intervention of Honduran prisons was ordered by President Castro one day after the massacre of 46 women at the Women's Social Adaptation Center (CEFAS) on June 20.

This prison was intervened by the Military Police on Monday, when the authorities also intervened in the maximum security prison of Morocelí, in the department of El Paraíso.

For one year, the Military Police will be required to "recruit, train, and educate at least 2,000 new prison guards, in compliance with the INP Law," said President Castro on June 21.