Guards retake prison

last updated 8 January 2015

Fraijanes, Guatemala

Seven inmates were killed this week when 3,000 Guatemalan troops stormed the Pavon prison in Fraijanes, which had effectively been under inmate control for years. The facility was run by an “Order and Discipline Committee” of prisoners that built churches, houses, and shops on prison grounds. The committee was set up in 1996 to give inmates more of a say over prison affairs. But it eventually took charge of prison life, and government troops were reduced to patrolling the prison’s perimeter to keep inmates inside. “The people who live here live better than all of us on the outside,” said one soldier. “They even have pubs.” Committee head Luis Zepeda was among those killed in the raid. Authorities said they recovered more than 150 firearms. The inmates were moved to other prisons.