At least 57 prisoners have been killed by other inmates during clashes between organised crime groups in the Altamira prison in northern Brazil on Monday morning with 16 of the victims being beheaded while others suffocated after the prison buildings were set on fire, according to prison officials.
Para state authorities said that the riot began around 7 a.m., between the Rio de Janerio- based Commando Vermelho and a local criminal group known as Commando Classe A.
The count ofvictims could rise when authorities have searched all areas involved, stateprisons chief Jarbas Vasconcelos said at a news conference.
The fire preventedpolice forces from entering the building for several hours, he added.
State prisons chiefJarbas Vasconcelos said a fight between criminal groups at the Altamira prisonerupted around in the morning, when breakfast was being served.
Two prison staffmembers were held hostage, but eventualy released. "It was a targetedattack. The aim was to show that it was a settling of accounts between the twogroups, not a protest or rebellion against the prison system," Vasconcelossaid.
Authorities havenot found any firearms following the riot, only makeshift knives.
Prison authoritiessaid 46 inmates will be transferred to other prisons. 10 of which will go tostricter federal facilities.
The AssociatedPress obtained a July 2019 report from the National Justice Council that itsays was filed by a local judge in charge of the facility, showing that theprison had 343 detainees for a maximum capacity of 163.
The judge who filedthe report described the overall state of the prison in the city of Altamira as"terrible."
Inmates also setfires and roadblocks that prevented authorities from entering parts of thefacility for about five hours, he said.
Brazilian officialssaid that the government is investigating the attack.
The killings echoedthose of 55 inmates who died in a series of riots in May in several prisons inthe neighbouring state of Amazonas.
According to the report, in early 2017, more than 120 inmates died in prisons across several northern states when rival gangs clashed over control of drug-trafficking routes in the region. The violence lasted several weeks, spreading to various states.
Last year, inmates had already set fire to another wing inside the same prison unit, according to the state prosecutors' office. Along with severe overcrowding, Brazil's prisons are plagued by gang violence, while riots and breakout attempts are not uncommon.
