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Dominican prison blaze kills over 130

Medical personnel inspect some of the charred bodies of inmates on Monday at a jail 150km east of Santo Domingo. A fire raged through a prison in the Dominican Republic early Monday following a dawn riot, killing at least 134 people and injuring 26 more, authorities said. PHOTO: AFP

Rival gangs battling over the drug trade in an overcrowded, vermin-infested prison in the Dominican Republic set their bedding ablaze and blocked the entrance to their cellblock, killing at least 134 inmates in one of Latin America's worst jailhouse blazes.

Some died in a stampede to escape the flames after guards forced open the jammed door in the cellblock known as Vietnam, one survivor said, while others were killed by smoke inhalation.

Only 26 prisoners were rescued from the public jail in Higuey, 75 miles northeast of the capital on eastern tip of the island, said National Police Chief Manuel de Jesus Perez Sanchez. Eighteen were injured, four in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The disaster underscored the terrible prison conditions in the Dominican Republic, which has the most overcrowded jails in the Western Hemisphere, according to UN figures. Domingo Porfirio Rojas-Nina of the Dominican National Human Rights Commission said he has been complaining for six years that the Higuey prison "is the worst in the country. It is hell on earth. It is unfit for human beings."

Officials gave varying figures for the prison population, with one saying the burned cellblock held as many as 182. The confusion over the exact numbers illustrated some of the problems within the prison system.

Among the victims were four Americans from Puerto Rico convicted of cocaine trafficking. Two died and two were injured, officials said.

The violence began when one inmate shot and wounded another Sunday night and dozens of members of three gangs began fighting for control of who would sell drugs and cigarettes, said national prison director General Ramon de la Cruz Martinez.

Guards broke up that fight, but about 12:30am Monday, prisoners began rioting, setting fire to pillows and sheets, said police spokesman General Simon Diaz.

The inmates had blocked the cellblock entrance to fight it out, said chief firefighter Nestor Vera.

"It's an incredible, mad thing," Vera said. "When we arrived, the door was blocked with the rubble from mattresses and wood beds the prisoners had used to seal the exit shut."

They also damaged the padlock, he said, preventing a swift rescue.

Bodies were "piled up on top of each other" at the door, he said, apparently as the men struggled to escape.

Rescuers pulled 133 bodies from the block, Perez Sanchez said. Many were charred, but many died from inhaling smoke, Vera said.

One of the few to escape, Alexander Sanchez, said police fired tear gas before the fire began.

"When they finally opened the door, we all tried to get out but we didn't all make it, some got trampled to death," said Sanchez, 28, who has been waiting in jail two years to be tried for beating up a man in a dispute over a woman.

At the hospital, survivor Enrique Wilano, 27, said many were killed by gunfire and machetes.
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