If media reports are to be believed, a vicious fire has led to the deaths of over 300 inmates at a prison in Honduras. For further specifics, please click on the link here.
Fox News Honduran Fire
While I am sure that few tears will be shed outside of those who count themselves as friends, and family of those who have lost their lives, it is scary. This isn't the first time a crazy inferno has taken the lives of many at a Honduran correctional institution. In fact, it appears to be the 4th such fire to claim the lives of inmates in that country since 1994. All of the prior events led to the loss of at least 70 lives.
What I don't know, and the area of largest concern to me, is whether all, most, or only some of the inmates had already been convicted of criminal offenses. The English Language news articles I have seen imply that these were bad people who had already been convicted by a Court of having done bad things. Even if that is the case, burning alive can seldom - I'd say never - be justified by analyzing who has been burned to death.
The more troubling thing to me is what the event says about the general commitment to justice, safety of the public, and rehabilitation. A system comprised of facilities that regularly (at least 4 times in 15 years) breaks down to the point of permitting mass extrajudicial death, is a system that can't be tolerated. What does the repeated failure say about the interest of the public in improving the likelihood that inmates will be returned to society better able to interact with the law-abiding? I know that most don't care, and you don't have to. If any one of these men died before trial, it is one too many. That trial would have been an opportunity for the accused to face his accuser. It was also an opportunity for the public, the family of victims, and victims themselves to seek justice. When the government system fails, as it did here, both sides are hurt.
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