25 Inmates Killed In Brazil Prison Riots
MEP: At least 25 inmates have been killed in clashes between two rival factions in a prison in far northern Brazil, according to local media.
Local media, citing police sources, reported on Sunday that the violence began when inmates of one wing broke into another wing of the Agricola de Monte Cristo prison in Boa Vista, the capital city of Roraima State.
Seven of the dead were beheaded and six burned to death in fighting, the news site G1 reported.
Some 100 visitors who were taken as hostages have been freed and the riot has ended, the reports added.
The rioters demanded that a judge come to hear their demands. Instead, Special Operations Police stormed the prison, released the hostages and regained control of the site by sundown.
Roraima State Secretary of Justice Uziel Castro said that the fight erupted during family visiting hours.
Prison officials, however, contained the situation by deploying Special Operations Police to the prison, who freed the hostages and regained control of the facility.
Joana Moura, head of the union of Roraima penal workers, told the Folha de Boa Vista newspaper that the incident “is a reflection of the lack of interest from the state government” towards the prison system.
