honduras prison fireOne of the world's deadliest prison fires ripped through a jail in Honduras today, burning and suffocating over 350 inmates to death. As of now, over 475 prisoners have escaped. It's believed that the blaze started after a prisoner set fire to a mattress late Tuesday night. It didn't take long for the flames to cause epic damage -- the AP reports that within minutes, 100 inmates were killed as firefighters tried to find prison guards who had keys and could unlock the cells.

The prison was built in the 1940s to hold about 400 inmates, but as of yesterday, it housed over 800, and 100 guards. It's a terrible tragedy, but wouldn't you know, not everyone sees it like that. 

It's been a matter of hours since the Honduras prison fire news broke, and it's brought out the worst in some people. Hundreds of anonymous Internet commenters have expressed their opinion that this is karma for the inmates, that they somehow got what they deserved. (That's not how karma works, but that's neither here nor there.) Others say that this is what overcrowding gets ya, and that a deadly blaze is a great way to solve not only the overcrowding issue, but budgetary ones, as well. There are even some people out there who think that America should use this "tactic" on our jails and go so far as to say rebuild, reload, reburn.

Nothing like a deadly fire that's killed over 350 people to really bring out the ugliest side of humanity, huh. It sounds like an utterly terrifying and chaotic scene, and I don't care if it's a school, a hospital, or a jail -- no one deserves to die like that. Yes, Honduras is a country in turmoil that has unparalleled homicide rates, poverty seems to grow by the day, and that houses one of the most dangerous cities in Latin America, but a fatal fire is a fatal fire is a fatal fire. To me, it's always catastrophic. It doesn't matter where it is or who it burns. There's nothing "good" about it, ever.

What do you think of the Honduras prison fire?

 

Photo via richard north/Flickr