51 dead in fire during prison riot in Colombia

At least 51 prisoners died after a fire started during a prison riot in the southwestern Colombian city of Tulua, the head of the national prisons agency said on Tuesday, one of the worst incidents of recent prison violence in the country.

“There was a situation, apparently a riot, the prisoners lit some mattresses and a conflagration occurred.” General Tito Castellanos, director of the INPEC prison agency said.

Castellanos later confirmed a death toll of 51 people - at least 49 who died in the prison and two who died after being taken to hospital.

“Unfortunately, the majority of the dead died because of smoke inhalation,” he said. The prison has a total of 1,267 inmates and the cell block where the fire occurred houses 180.

In Colombia, as in many Latin American countries, prisons are highly overcrowded. Colombia’s jails have a capacity for 81,000 inmates but currently house about 97,000, according to official figures.