Inmates involved in Brazil prison massacre to be transferred

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian authorities said yesterday that the inmates responsible for the killings of 56 rivals at a prison in the Amazon 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 Brazilian prison since 1992.

Three other prisons in the state of Amazonas also saw riots Sunday and Monday. In total, 60 inmates died and 184 escaped. Only 48 were recaptured, according to the local police.

Amazonas Gov. Jose Melo said the transfers to federal prisons are likely to 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 are clashing over the control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.

"They are fighting for space outside the prisons, and this time it was inside the penitentiary," Melo said in a press conference after meeting federal authorities. "This is part of a national movement that happened in prisons of Roraima, Acre and Rondonia states. Now it is with us. What shocked us was the aggressive way it was done."

Meanwhile yesterday, dozens of people stood outside the coroner's office in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, to find if their relatives were among the dead.

Sara Santos, 36, said she was seeking news of her 23-year-old brother, who had been in prison for drug trafficking.

"Nobody knows who is alive or dead," said Santos, expressing frustration that she and her mother had been waiting for news since Monday afternoon.

Transfers of gang leaders to federal prisons often have been followed by more violence and Amazonas authorities said they are worried that the First Command may retaliate for the slayings in the coming days.

The Anisio Jobim Penitentiary Complex in Manaus held 1,224 inmates when the riot began, although it is designed for only 592, the state public security office said. The prison is run by a private company that is paid according to the number of inmates.

The governor also announced a public-private partnership to invest $30 million in a new penitentiary with capacity of 3,200 inmates to address the state's growing problem of crowded prisons — an issue all over Brazil.

Late Monday, Melo ordered that 130 prisoners linked to the First Command be transferred to a prison built in 1907 that had been deactivated in October due to poor conditions.

Robert Muggah of the Instituto Igarape, a Rio de Janeiro-based security and social issues think tank, believes that the transfer of prisoners "is an important measure, but it doesn't address the structural problems of Brazil's poorly managed prison system."

"There still needs to be a better separation of dangerous and not as dangerous inmates. There are a lot of new problems when juveniles enter adult prisons," he said. "This is a long-running problem with no end in sight."

Brazil's Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes said federal government is sending $17 million extra to help Amazonas. Part of that will go to help forensic experts, who are having difficulties identifying the bodies due to the extreme brutality of the killings.

The incident was the most deadly in a Brazilian prison since at least 111 inmates were killed by police forces during a 1992 riot at the Carandiru prison in Sao Paulo.