Call it an Alcatraz reboot.
Honduras plans to house its most feared criminals on an isolated island prison in the Caribbean Sea.
President Xiomara Castro ordered the prison to be built in the Islas del Cisne archipelago, specifically for gang leaders from Barrio 18 and La Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, according to The Associated Press.
The three-island chain, also known as the Swan Islands in English, is almost 100 miles, or a day’s journey by boat, from the Central American country. They are currently uninhabited except for a military garrison.
“It’s the farthest away they can possibly be, so these gang leaders feel the pressure once they’re on the island,” said Jose Jorge Fortin, the head of Honduras’ armed forces. “The idea is that they lose contact with everything, contact with all of society … and they can really pay for their crimes.”
There was no immediate cost estimate, or a timeline for the construction of the prison, which is planned to have a 2,000-inmate capacity.
The urge to build the complex comes after 46 women were killed in a prison gang fight last month. The assailants used firearms, machetes and set victims on fire with a flammable liquid during the slaughter.
A tougher crackdown on Latin American gangs comes as leaders model themselves after Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele.
Mr. Bukele has ordered a state of emergency, allowing the nation to jail thousands of criminal suspects without due process rights.
El Salvador has seen one of the world’s most dramatic drops in homicide rates since the emergency went into effect. Mr. Bukele has a public-approval rating in the 90s as a result of the effort.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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