40 inmates strangled to death in orgy of violence at four Brazil prisons
- The Amazonas state prison agency said all prisoners found dead in Manaus showed signs of asphyxia
- Prison clashes often spread rapidly in Brazil, where drug gangs have de facto control over nearly all jails
At least 40 inmates have been found strangled to death in four jails in northern Brazil, in the latest wave of violence to rock the country’s severely overpopulated and dangerous prison system.
The victims appeared to have been killed by “asphyxiation”, the Amazonas state government said, a day after 15 people were killed in one of the prisons.
The killings across the city’s prisons recalled early 2017 when more than 120 inmates died at the hands of other prisoners during several weeks of fighting among rival crime gang members at prisons in northern states.
Brazil’s far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has vowed to regain control of the country’s prisons – along with building many more jails.
But the vast majority of jails are administered at the state level. For decades they have been badly overcrowded and out of control of local authorities, essentially serving as recruiting centres for drug gangs.