Honduran offshore prison plan faces fresh criticism

The plans of Honduran President Xiomara Castro’s administration to build an offshore prison complex on islands 250km from the mainland have been criticized by the US Ambassador to Honduras and a former first lady of the country.

Days after the deadline to file expressions of interest for the prequalification process to award the contract – overseen by the prison management institute – US Ambassador to Honduras Laura Dogu said that offshore facilities would be difficult to operate. 

“In the United States we've tried to build jails on islands far away from the mainland. In San Francisco we have the famous Alcatraz jail, and it has been pretty difficult to maintain a complex so far away and so isolated,” she was quoted as saying by daily La Prensa. “I don’t know how the [Honduran] government will do it and that is its responsibility to make that decision. We will see what happens.”

The environmental and natural resources ministry recently approved the first stage of the environmental license for the project, a process that had delayed the project for months. 

Ana García de Hernández, wife of former premier Juan Orlando Hernández (2014-22), said that the idea for the project was not new. During Hernández’s administration, she said, he visited the Cisne islands twice and considered building a prison complex there. 

The project was finally ruled out and deemed “inappropriate” due to environmental concerns, high construction and maintenance costs, the risks posed by hurricanes and organized crime, and logistical issues. 

García said that this project will not solve Honduras' crime problems and shows the “inability and improvisation [of Castro’s administration] in terms of security."

“In the face of the crisis that the country is suffering in crime, the government is promoting the construction of a jail as a distraction under a scheme for a direct contract award in a protected natural area that doesn't have the requirements for this type of construction,” she said on social media. 

Xiomara Castro issued an executive order to build the new prison after clashes between gangs in a female penitentiary close to capital Tegucigalpa in June last year resulted in the deaths of 46 inmates.