Nine inmates were killed, 14 were injured, and dozens escaped in a prison riot on Monday, national news media reported, in the latest example of Brazil’s continuing difficulties maintaining control over its notoriously violent penal system. According to newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, 106 prisoners escaped the prison in the city of Goiânia, near the capital of Brasilia. One of the nine killed in the mayhem was decapitated, news media reported, sparking memories of a prison riot that occurred one year ago today in the Amazon in which 56 people died, several of whom were decapitated and thrown over prison walls. That riot, which was rooted in a long-standing gang rivalry, came at the beginning of a January marred by widespread prison violence, with 130 prisoners dying in the first 20 days of 2017. Rights group call prison conditions medieval, with food scarce and cells often so packed inmates have no space to lie down.

Source: Punch January 02, 2018 11:15 UTC