A riot broke out in a Guyana maximum security prison today (Thursday), leaving 16 prisoners dead.
"It's a crisis situation," Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan told AFP.
The conflagration began when guards and police carried out a search of the location to confiscate banned items including phones. The prison, which currently holds more than a thousand people, was only intended to fit 775 prisoners.
Guyana is in northeastern South America.