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A Prison Revolt in Guatemala Has Killed at Least 8 Inmates

The country’s prison authority said that 24 other inmates were also injured in the revolt that came a month after at least 16 prisoners were killed in another riot in another Guatemalan prison.
Photo by Moises Castillo/AP

At least eight prisoners died in a New Year's Eve revolt in a Guatemalan prison that officials said was related to a foiled escape plan. The country's prison authority said that 20 other inmates were also injured before police retook control of the facility after putting out several fires.

"The incident seems to have originated as an escape plan that the authorities managed to avoid," the prison authority said on Twitter. It also posted photographs of a hole in a wall "through which the inmates presumably hoped to escape."

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There were unconfirmed reports that two of the dead prisoners were decapitated and their bodies burned.

National daily Prensa Libre reported that the inmates cut the electricity supply in the prison and disconnected the system blocking mobile phone communication during the revolt in which gunfire was heard.

The prison, located in the city of Puerto Barrios on Guatemala's Atlantic coast, is severely overcrowded. According to the Interior Ministry it was built to house 146 inmates, but currently holds 944 prisoners.

The deaths at the Puerto Barrios jail came a month after at least 16 inmates died during a riot in another overcrowded Guatemalan facility near the capital.

Related: A Prison Riot in an Overcrowded Guatemalan Jail Kills at Least 16

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