Judith Pena | July 20, 2023
The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, in a desperate attempt to reduce the wave of violence, wants to build a prison on an island; this would be the only insular penal colony in the western hemisphere.
Following in the footsteps of El Salvador, the most feared criminals in the country and members of the gangs would be housed there.
Castro promised to confront gang violence through reforms to the government and the criminal justice system.
This jail, which will be isolated, will house 2,000 gang leaders and will be located in the Islas del Cisne archipelago, almost 250 kilometers from the coast.
In the past, isolated prisons were common in 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.
