Gang rivalry behind prison riot

THE instigators of a horrific prison riot in Brazil that left 56 inmates dead – many of them decapitated – would be transferred to higher security federal prisons, the justice minister said yesterday.

As soon as the ringleaders were identified they would be transferred, at the request of the Manaus state government said Alexandre de Moraes.

The riot broke out on Sunday afternoon and lasted through the night at a prison on the outskirts of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state, state public security secretary Sergio Fontes said.

Bloodied and burned bodies were seen stacked in a concrete prison yard and piled in carts.

A total of 184 inmates escaped, and so far 40 have been caught, Moraes said.

The fighting ranks among the most deadly of numerous prison riots across Latin America in the past decade.

Police finally restored order at the prison on Monday morning, freeing 12 guards who had been taken hostage, Fontes said.

He said the gruesome scene appeared aimed at sending a message from the Family of the North, a powerful local gang, to rivals from the First Capital Command.

“During the negotiations (to end the riot), the prisoners had almost no demands,” Fontes said.

“We think they had already done what they wanted: kill members of the rival organisation.”

It was the latest eruption of horrific violence to hit Brazil’s underfunded and overcrowded prisons.

In 1992, a riot in Sao Paulo’s Carandiru prison left 111 people dead. — AFP