4 more inmates die in Brazil following deadly prison clash
RIO DE JANEIRO — Four inmates allegedly involved in a deadly clash between prison gangs have died of asphyxiation while being transferred to a safer lockup, authorities said Wednesday, as families of victims began to bury their relatives.
The Para state public security office said the four were discovered dead when the prison vehicle arrived in the town of Maraba.
They said the vehicle had four compartments and was carrying 30 handcuffed inmates who were suspected of involvement in Monday’s clash of gangs at the Altamira prison.
Authorities said the four who died were from the same gang and said they are investigating.
The prisoners were among 46 being sent to other prisons, including stricter federal ones.
Several holes had been dug in the rust-colored earth at the cemetery of Altamira, where grieving families began to arrive Wednesday to mourn some of the 58 inmates killed by a rival gang in a grisly prison riot.
“We need more security, we need more room (for detainees),” said Gelson Gusmao, whose son died in Monday’s clashes. “There’s a lot of overcrowding in the prisons, so we want our president to improve the situation inside.”
Back at the forensic institute, dozens of grief-stricken, frustrated families were still waiting to identify slain relatives, fighting off the odor of decomposing bodies.
Only 21 bodies had been released to family members by Wednesday morning, a process slowed by the small size of the morgue, lack of staff to deal with the sudden flow of corpses and problems with lighting that meant staff can only work until 6:30 p.m.
In the Amazon heat, the bodies were being kept in a large refrigerated truck. But Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported that for lack of space, corpses were being kept under a makeshift, uncooled tent.
Forensic expert Marcel Ferreira said some passed out when called on the day before to identify the beheaded or burnt bodies of loved ones.