Inmates involved in Brazil prison massacre to be transferred
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian authorities said Tuesday that the inmates responsible for the killings of 60 rivals at two prisons in the Amazon region will be transferred to high security federal institutions in addition to being prosecuted. Many of those slain were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a prison of the South American country since 1992.
Amazonas state public security secretary Sergio Fontes said the transfers will begin as soon as investigations into the incidents are finished. He said there was a link between the killing of 56 inmates in a penitentiary in Manaus, the state capital, and four deaths in a smaller prison.
Four prisons in the state of Amazonas saw riots Sunday and Monday. A total of184 inmates escaped, and only 54 had been recaptured as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the local police, who set up checkpoints to hunt for fugitives.
Amazonas Gov. Jose Melo said the transfers to federal prisons will focus on members of local Family of the North gang that attacked those of Sao Paulo-based First Command, Brazil’s biggest criminal organization. The two fight over the control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.