REUTERS/Fredy... Read moreTEGUCIGALPA, June 26 (Reuters) - Honduras' military began taking control of the country's violent prisons on Monday, following a gang dispute that left 46 inmates dead at a women's detention center last week, officials said.
Official video showed hundreds of shirtless male inmates, many tattooed and with their heads shaved, arranged on the floor of Honduras' high-security Tamara prison with their arms over their heads, guarded by heavily armed soldiers.
In Honduras, some 20,000 inmates coexist in 26 overcrowded prisons, with a United Nations report saying that the country's prisons are 34.2% over capacity.
Military police on Monday seized pistols, machine guns, ammunition, magazines and grenades from an area of the Tamara prison occupied by the Barrio 18 gang, Colonel Fernando Munoz told reporters.
Reporting by Gustavo Palencia in Tegucigalpa Writing by Valentine Hilaire Editing by Matthew LewisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Tamara, Xiomara Castro, Jose Manuel Zelaya, Antonio Coello, Fernando Munoz, Gustavo Palencia, Valentine Hilaire, Matthew Lewis
Organizations:
Military Police, Honduras Armed Forces, REUTERS, El, Defense, Armed Forces, United, Military, Thomson
Locations:
Honduras, Esperanza, Tegucigalpa, TEGUCIGALPA, United Nations