Cut off by coronavirus: Hondurans in packed prison suffer mental toll

Cut off by coronavirus: Hondurans in packed prison suffer mental toll

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For Yerbin Estrada (pictured below), the worst part of the day is when the sun begins to set. The hundreds of inmates of La Esperanza prison in central Honduras must leave its small courtyard and file back to their cramped cells.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Estrada exercises with a makeshift weight in the prison's courtyard.

"That is when the hell really begins," said the powerfully built and bearded 25-year-old, glancing a final time at the armed guards perched on the rooftop, silhouetted against the dimming sky.

Throughout the night, packed into a room with 130 other men, Estrada hears his neighbors' muffled whimpering as rats scuttle by.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
A prison guard looks out from a watch post overlooking the prison.

Estrada is serving his fourth year of a six-year sentence for marijuana possession in La Esperanza, a low-security prison tucked into the pine and oak-lined mountains of central Honduras. Its name, in Spanish, means hope.

Behind the bars, the ultimate law is that which reigns in Central America, a mantra sprayed onto walls in gang-controlled neighborhoods: ver, oír, y callar. See, hear, and shut up.

"The best way to get out unscathed, is to keep your head down," said Estrada, quiet and composed.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Gerson Ramos, 24, waits for prison guards to fill out some paperwork before being released.

A whiteboard at the entrance keeps a daily tally. The top line never changes: "Prison Capacity: 70 inmates." But the rows below of the actual number of prisoners tick up and down. Today's count: 454.

The roots of the problems at La Esperanza plague prisons throughout Latin America, said director Jose López Cerrato: harsh sentences for small crimes, lack of proper police investigation, and many detainees held without charge, often for years.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Israel Miranda, 35, embraces his mother Camilla during a visiting day.

The only reprieve is visiting days, when children, grandparents and wives breathe life into the courtyard, taking over the kitchen, playing ball, and praying with the inmates at religious services.

But as the coronavirus took hold in Honduras, authorities banned visits. And with prohibitively expensive rates for calls from the prison's three working phones, inmates are now all but cut off from the outside world.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
An inmate, who said he was having respiratory issues, is checked by medical practitioner Blenda Paredes inside the prison.

In addition to the health risks posed by overcrowding, staff worry about the pandemic's mental toll.

"Taking away visits is the worst thing that can happen. It's what they need most because, more than anything, it gives them hope," says Jacinto Hernández, La Esperanza's psychologist. "I fear it could turn violent as the virus spreads and anxieties increase. Aggressions already run high; they barely have room to breathe."

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
A visitor takes part in a Catholic service with inmates during a visiting day.

Hernández estimates about one fifth of the male population already leaves with post-traumatic stress disorder they did not have when they arrived.

Honduras has had over 2,000 reported coronavirus cases and 120 deaths, although most public health experts say those numbers are a likely underestimate.

So far, the country's 29 prisons have largely been spared, but should the virus spread inside the crumbling system, the results could be devastating. Honduras' prisons, designed for just over 10,000 inmates, are home to nearly 22,000, according to recent counts.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Inmates line up with buckets as they wait to collect water for bathing and washing clothes from a large concrete storage container in the prison courtyard.

Built in 1937, La Esperanza's imposing colonial-style blue and yellow structure sits across from the town's main square, where young lovers steal furtive kisses on park benches.

Water is only available a couple of times a week and, with just one shared bathroom, men bathe in the courtyard with cold water from buckets used to wash the clothes they drape overhead. Respiratory illness are common, the product of sleeping on the ground exposed to the cold mountain air.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
An inmate makes a fishing net.

Most days the men make crafts, lift makeshift weights, or play cards to keep them occupied.

Before the coronavirus, family visitors would sell goods the men had made - hammocks, fishing nets, toy cars - to raise money for soap, coffee and cigarettes. They brought empanadas, fried chicken, and tamales as a relief from the meager prison diet staples of rice and beans.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Inmates play a game of football in the prison courtyard.

Intibucá, where La Esperanza Prison is located, is one of Honduras' poorest areas. Illiteracy is high; alcoholism pervasive. The most common crimes are domestic violence, drug possession and homicide.

"It's complicated to breathe, but summer is true hell and you can feel everyone's bodies," said Erlin Mendez, 27, who shares his 38-inch wide space with another inmate, who he says is in for murder after an alcohol-fueled machete fight.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Catalino Rodriguez, 50, and Santos Primitivo, 23, lie in their sleeping quarters inside an over-crowded cell that they share with several other inmates.

Inmates lucky enough to have beds, and especially beds with curtains, would rent them out to prisoners with female visitors. "These visits definitely keep tensions lower," said Israel Miranda, 36.

Each of the windowless rooms is a dark labyrinth of improvised wood-and-plywood beds, with limbs protruding at every turn.

. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif
Inmates Vilma Alicia Rodriguez Banegas, Macaria Perdom, Leonella Ramoz Rees and Milka Bonilla make donuts to sell.

Another part of the prison holds female inmates.

Under a rusty tin roof in an attached building, the women are sectioned off behind a chain link fence. "It's like being in a really depressing zoo," said Elian Martinez, a 39-year-old mother of three who says she was wrongfully accused of fraud.

The one cell for six women has four beds and space for three people to stand. They get three hours of sunlight a week at an adjacent guard tower.

In the men's section, 132 men sleep in a room with fewer than 50 beds. Newer inmates sleep wherever they can find a patch, often sharing the floor with cockroaches and rats. The wait for a bed is around three years.

"You never get used to it, just resigned," Estrada said. "Each day you wake up at 5 AM, wait in line for water and food, survive, and it means one day fewer, one day closer to family."

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Slideshow

Prison guards stand in front of a wall, painted with a religious mural, as they bow their heads in prayer following a meeting that they held outside the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Prison guards stand in front of a wall, painted with a religious mural, as they bow their heads in prayer following a meeting that they held outside the prison.

A prison guard stands over a courtyard crowded by inmates.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

A prison guard stands over a courtyard crowded by inmates.

A prison guard passes a handgun to another prison guard during a shift change while Mario Orellana, 40, stands by the entrance as he waits to be released after completing his sentence.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

A prison guard passes a handgun to another prison guard during a shift change while Mario Orellana, 40, stands by the entrance as he waits to be released after completing his sentence.

Jose Israel Orellana Ferrera, 34, nets a rope together to be used for making handbags, hammocks and fishing nets, which are then sold to the local community outside the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Jose Israel Orellana Ferrera, 34, nets a rope together to be used for making handbags, hammocks and fishing nets, which are then sold to the local community outside the prison.

Victor Marquez, 30, sits on his bed in sleeping quarters that he shares with several other inmates inside a crowded cell.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Victor Marquez, 30, sits on his bed in sleeping quarters that he shares with several other inmates inside a crowded cell.

A group of inmates play a gambling game with cards as they sit outside in the courtyard of the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

A group of inmates play a gambling game with cards as they sit outside in the courtyard of the prison.

An inmate buys a cup of coffee from a small concession that sells items such as soap, snacks, toilet paper, over-the-counter medicines and cigarettes, inside the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

An inmate buys a cup of coffee from a small concession that sells items such as soap, snacks, toilet paper, over-the-counter medicines and cigarettes, inside the prison.

Carlos Javier Gomez, 48, has his hair cut by a fellow inmate on the first day of arriving at the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Carlos Javier Gomez, 48, has his hair cut by a fellow inmate on the first day of arriving at the prison.

An inmate places the final touches on a wooden toy that he made to sell to families during visiting days at the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

An inmate places the final touches on a wooden toy that he made to sell to families during visiting days at the prison.

Pedro Perez, 35, retrieves his laundry hung on a washing line in the courtyard of the prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Pedro Perez, 35, retrieves his laundry hung on a washing line in the courtyard of the prison.

Inmates have to raise funds to be able to purchase soap.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Inmates have to raise funds to be able to purchase soap.

Feliciano Diaz Sanchez uses soap and an old rag as he bathes.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Feliciano Diaz Sanchez uses soap and an old rag as he bathes.

An inmate bathes in the courtyard.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

An inmate bathes in the courtyard.

Manuel Antonio, 25, an inmate who works in the kitchen of the prison, transports a sack of beans to a storage room.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Manuel Antonio, 25, an inmate who works in the kitchen of the prison, transports a sack of beans to a storage room.

Savino Diaz, 58, peels onions as he helps to prepare breakfast inside the prison's kitchen.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Savino Diaz, 58, peels onions as he helps to prepare breakfast inside the prison's kitchen.

Diaz peels onions while preparing breakfast for other inmates.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Diaz peels onions while preparing breakfast for other inmates.

Inmates stand in the prison courtyard as they wait to be served beans and tortillas for breakfast by other inmates.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Inmates stand in the prison courtyard as they wait to be served beans and tortillas for breakfast by other inmates.

Leonella Ramoz Rees is reflected in a mirror as she makes lunch in the female section of the prison, next to plastic bags with food belonging to prison guards hung from a wall.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Leonella Ramoz Rees is reflected in a mirror as she makes lunch in the female section of the prison, next to plastic bags with food belonging to prison guards hung from a wall.

Macaria Perdom, 38, stands between bunks as she eats lunch inside a prison cell in front of fellow inmate Vilma Alicia Rodriguez Banegas, who watches television inside a cell that they share with several other woman.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Macaria Perdom, 38, stands between bunks as she eats lunch inside a prison cell in front of fellow inmate Vilma Alicia Rodriguez Banegas, who watches television inside a cell that they share with several other woman.

An inmate writes notes during a Christian worship service.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

An inmate writes notes during a Christian worship service.

Edin Alfredo Ramos, 25, and other inmates recite Christian songs during a worship service.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Edin Alfredo Ramos, 25, and other inmates recite Christian songs during a worship service.

Milton, 9, watches people take part in a Catholic service, as he stands by the entrance to a prison cell where his parents were meeting during a visiting day.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Milton, 9, watches people take part in a Catholic service, as he stands by the entrance to a prison cell where his parents were meeting during a visiting day.

Inmates without visitors are partitioned on one end of the courtyard as children play a ball game during a visiting day.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Inmates without visitors are partitioned on one end of the courtyard as children play a ball game during a visiting day.

Adonay Sanchez, 25, tries to speak to his son Dennis, 4, during a visiting day.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Adonay Sanchez, 25, tries to speak to his son Dennis, 4, during a visiting day.

Tiburcio Hernandez, 33, embraces his children Gerson, 11, and Alexis, 7, as they say goodbye after a visiting day.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Tiburcio Hernandez, 33, embraces his children Gerson, 11, and Alexis, 7, as they say goodbye after a visiting day.

Inmates clean up the prison courtyard after a visiting day before being locked up in their cells for the evening. There is a rotating team of inmates whose duty is to clean, pick up and separate garbage and other recyclable materials.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

Inmates clean up the prison courtyard after a visiting day before being locked up in their cells for the evening. There is a rotating team of inmates whose duty is to clean, pick up and separate garbage and other recyclable materials.

A pet rooster drinks from the concrete floor of the prison after inmates are locked up for the night.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

A pet rooster drinks from the concrete floor of the prison after inmates are locked up for the night.

A former inmate is embraced by his wife and mother after being released from prison.
. La Esperanza, Honduras. Reuters/Adrees Latif

A former inmate is embraced by his wife and mother after being released from prison.