Police seize Brazil prison after deadly gang clashes

Authorities say maintaining control will be ongoing battle

NATAL, BRAZIL— Military police entered a prison in northeastern Brazil on Saturday, establishing tenuous control after a week of chaos and fighting between rival gangs that left 26 inmates dead.

The unrest was the latest in a spate of violence in the country’s penitentiaries, where at least126 people have been killed since the beginning of the year. The fighting is typically between members of rival gangs who compete for control of drug trafficking routes outside prison walls.

A week after inmates first rioted at Alcacuz prison, riot police and other forces moved into the complex outside the city of Natal on Saturday. As a helicopter flew overhead, an armoured vehicle also entered the complex and later construction equipment was brought in. Authorities would not say how many officers entered, but an Associated Press reporter saw about 40 go in.

A few hours after the operation began, Maj. Eduardo Franco, a military police spokesperson, said the complex was again under police control.

But Col. Andre Azevedo, general commander of the military police in Rio Grande do Norte state, painted a bleak picture of the situation inside, saying that the entire system had broken down and maintaining control would be an ongoing battle.

The series of riots and grisly killings has put a spotlight on overcrowding, underfunding and understaffing in the prison system. For instance, Alcacuz is home to more than 1,000 inmates, though it was built for 620. Meanwhile, authorities in Brazil are under pressure to crack down on crime in general, but many states have struggled as budgets shrink amid an economic recession.