Guatemalan prison riot leaves 7 dead, 25 injured

GUATEMALA CITY – Authorities in Guatemala say that a riot has left seven dead and 25 injured at an overcrowded prison in the country’s south.

A spokesman for the country’s penitentiary system confirmed the death toll in Thursday’s riot in the city of Escuintla, adding that the injured had been taken to health centres. Rudy Esquivel said the preliminary finding was that the riot was a fight among prisoners.

Esquivel said that police had control of the prison, which has 3,122 inmates despite having a capacity of only 600.

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