Army takes over Honduras' prisons in gang crackdown as naked inmates face harsh tactics

Honduras’ government has announced a grisly gang crackdown following the slaughter of 46 women prisoners by street gangs last week.

The nation’s armed forces announced the initiation of “Operation Faith and Hope” on Monday in order “to regain control of the prisons”.

Military police have now taken charge of Honduran prisons as they posted snaps in one prison of naked inmates sitting in rows, legs akimbo during a raid to seize contraband.

READ MORE: Women prisoners burnt alive in ‘monstrous murder’ as 41 killed in MS-13 gang slaughter

“Operations will continue in other penal centres," the army revealed on Twitter.

The nation hopes to hamper the flow of drugs and weapons making it into the lockups and stop brutal gang murderers in their tracks.

In response to another mass shooting on Saturday, which saw 11 people killed at a pool hall in Honduras’ capital, President Xiomara Castro announced a wave of security measures to quash drug-related violence.

Officials believe that the shooting may be revenge for last week’s gang-related massacre, which is the worst atrocity at a women’s prison in recent memory.

A vicious riot reportedly broke out between rivals Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and Barrio 18 at a prison in Tamara on June 20 which saw 26 women burned alive, and the rest shot or stabbed to death.

In December, Castro announced a state of emergency to address the gangs’ turf wars, but it failed to stop the brutal criminals.

Now, the president has reverted 21 of the country’s 26 prisons to the Military Police of Public Order (PMOP), in an attempt to suppress organised crime.

Harsh tactics made famous by El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, in its gang crackdown beginning in March 2022, look as if they’re now being employed in Honduran prisons.

These include the movement of half-naked inmates with their heads bowed on the backs on the men in front of them.

She has also implemented curfews between 9pm and 4am in the Choloma area, as well as “raids, captures and checkpoints 24 hours a day”.

El Salvador’s anti-gang campaign has seen more than 67,000 people arrested and more than 150 inmates die in custody since its began in March 2022.