Drug gangs spark riot, 56 inmates die

BRAZIL: A prison riot has left at least 56 dead, with decapitated bodies thrown over prison walls in the bloodiest violence in more than two decades in Brazil’s overcrowded penitentiary system, officials in the Amazon city of Manaus said.

Sergio Fontes, the security chief for Amazonas state, said the death toll could rise as authorities get a clearer idea of the rebellion, sparked by a fight between rival drug gangs.

Fontes said several decapitated bodies were thrown over the prison wall, with most of those killed coming from the Sao Paulobased First Capital Command (PCC) drug gang. Authorities had previously said about 60 were dead.

‘‘This was another chapter in the silent and ruthless war of drug trafficking,’’ he said.

Pedro Florencio, the Amazonas state prison secretary, said the massacre was a ‘‘revenge killing’’ in a feud between criminal gangs in Brazil.

The violence began late Sunday and was brought under control by Monday morning, Fontes said.

A total of 184 inmates escaped, with 40 recaptured by Monday afternoon.

Just as the riot began in one unit of the Anisio Jobim prison complex, dozens of prisoners in the second unit started a mass escape in what authorities said was a coordinated effort to distract guards.

Overcrowding is extremely common in Brazil’s prisons, which suffer endemic violence and what rights groups call medieval conditions with food scarce and cells so packed that prisoners have no space to lie down. The Anisio Jobim prison complex currently houses 2230 inmates despite having a capacity of only 590.

The violence was the latest clash between inmates aligned with PCC, Brazil’s most-powerful drug gang, and a local Manaus criminal group known as the North Family.

The Manaus-based gang is widely believed to be attacking PCC inmates at the behest of the Rio de Janeiro-based Red Command (CV) drug gang, Brazil’s second largest. – Reuters