Inmates escape, set fire to prison in Honduras

October 26, 2009 07:13 AM

Twenty-six year old Yanki, his Mara 18 gang name, shows the tattoo on his back, at the National Penitentiary, in Tamara, 16 km north of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on Friday, April 2, 2004, while celebrating the 1st anniversary of a prison riot in La Ceiba, northern Honduras where a fistfight at a prison escalated into a riot that left 68 inmates dead and dozens of prisoners and guards injured after the prisoners set fire to their mattresses and furniture. *(AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)*

Associated Press

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Police say escaped inmates set fire to a prison, a public market and a cultural center in western Honduras before authorities stopped the riot and captured 76 of the 79 fugitives.

Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato says officers shot and wounded 11 of the inmates who escaped Friday from a state-run prison in the town of Santa Barbara, located about 220 miles (350 kilometers) west of Tegucigalpa.

Three inmates remain at large. Cerrato says two of the fugitives have been convicted of murder and one has been convicted of robbery.

Inmates from the prison will stay in a city stadium until they are relocated to facilities in nearby communities.

Escapes