Inmates rioting for better facilities in a Brazilian jail killed four fellow prisoners, decapitating two of them, and took two guards hostage, officials said on Sunday.
Negotiations to resolve the standoff were to resume yesterday, with 60 percent of the jail still under inmate control overnight, Cascavel State judicial spokesman Elson Faxina said.
Officials have cut water and electricity to the enclosure, Faxina added, saying police officers are guarding the prison to stop the riot from spreading.
Photo: AFP
“A group of prisoners took six inmates hostage; they killed four and have injured two. They also took hostage two guards,” he said. “Their demands are about facilities; it is an older building and they want food brought in.”
However, Faxina said there may also be an element of the uprising linked to a fight between drug trafficking factions.
“The fact that prisoners took hostages would reinforce that view,” he said.
There were no numbers on how many inmates were involved in the uprising, but local media said that 77 prisoners were transferred because they were threatened by the rioters.
The uprising took place in the Cascavel State correctional center in the southern city of Parana that currently holds 1,140 prisoners, he said.
According to news portal G1, the two other prisoners were killed when they were thrown off the roof of the buildings.
Meanwhile, the prison workers’ union said in a statement that lack of funding meant no regular maintenance is carried out at the facility.
“The prisoners say the food is bad, there are no lawyers to work their trials, no basic hygiene materials, few correctional officers,” the statement added. “All these factors together are a tragedy waiting to happen.”
In Brazil, about 548,000 people are currently in prison — and there is a need for 207,000 more spots to prevent overcrowding, according to Conectas, an organization specializing in inmate rights.
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