At least 42 prisoners have been found dead at four prisons in the northern Amazon jungle city of Manaus on Monday, authorities said.

The deaths came one day after 15 inmates were killed in clashes between rival prison gangs in the same city.

The Amazonas state government said in a statement that the victims appeared to have been killed by "asphyxiation." It added that federal authorities had dispatched reinforcements to the state to boost security.

On Sunday, 15 inmates were killed when fighting broke out at the Anisio Jobim Prison Complex in Manaus. Some of the 42 prisoners killed on Monday were also discovered at the facility, while the rest were found at three other jails.

Severe overcrowding is a huge problem in Brazil's prison system, which is plagued by drug violence and riots. In 2017, more than 120 prisoners died during three weeks of clashes between rival prison factions in northern Brazil.

Brazil has one of the world's largest prison populations. According to official statistics, there were more than 700,000 inmates as of 2016 — double the capacity of the nation's jails.

"Overcrowding and understaffing make it impossible for prison authorities to maintain control within many prisons, leaving detainees vulnerable to violence and recruitment into gangs," Human Rights Watch said in a recent report.



Every evening, DW sends out a selection of the day's news and features. Sign up here. </s> A dispute between inmates at a prison in Feira de Santana, Brazil, sparked a violent 18-hour riot that left eight people dead on May 24.

Dozens of inmates were found dead at three different prisons in the capital of Brazil’s northern Amazonas state on Monday.

The deaths come a day after 15 inmates died during fighting between prisoners at a fourth prison in the same city.

The Amazonas state prison agency said the 40 prisoners, all found dead in Manaus on Monday, showed signs of asphyxiation or choking.

Prison staff had only discovered the victims while making routine checks of the four different facilities, according to the BBC.

Since the grisly discoveries, a task force has been sent to “control the disturbances”.

More inmates suffered injuries during fighting on Monday.

On Sunday, 15 inmates were killed during a riot at Manaus’ Anisio Jobim Prison Complex, where 56 prisoners died two years earlier.

At least 25 of the victims were found in the Antonio Trindade Penal Institute near Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, where all four prisons are located, according to AFP.

Another five were killed at the Provisional Detention Centre for Men, and six died at the Puraquequara Prison Unit. Authorities had initially put the official number of dead at 42 but later revised the number to 40 without explanation.

Local authorities said prisoners began fighting among themselves before noon on Sunday, and security reinforcements were rushed in and managed to regain control of the prison within 45 minutes.

Officials said the prisoners had used sharpened toothbrushes as shanks, and others had been strangled to death.

Prison visitors witnessed the violence, describing it as chaotic.

“It was total chaos,” said the mother of one inmate. Speaking to The Rio Times, she asked not to be named.

“Everyone started to run, and everyone was pounding on the cell gates, at the doors and running down the corridors.”

Little information has been released by Brazilian officials about Monday’s killings.

Brazil’s justice and public security ministry said it was sending a federal task force to help local officials handle the situation.

“I just spoke with (Justice) Minister Sergio Moro who is already sending a prison intervention team to the state of Amazonas so that he can help us in this moment of crisis and a problem that is national: the problem of prisons,” Amazonas state Governor Wilson Lima said.

Several drug-trafficking and other criminal gangs in Brazil run much of their day-to-day business from prisons, where they often have wide sway.

Brazil has the world’s third largest prison population. In April this year the number was at 712,305 inmates. The number of inmates is nearly double the capacity of the prisons, which is estimated to be about 368,049 inmates.

Overcrowding in the prisons has fuelled riots and violence within prison walls.

Attempts at prison reform have been met with strong resistance from inside and outside the prisons.

The recent violence echoes a similar bloody outbreak in early 2017 when more than 120 inmates were gruesomely slain by other prisoners. The attacks, in which many victims had their heads cut off or their hearts and intestines ripped out, were carried out between rival crime gangs in prisons in Brazil’s northern states.

The 2017 slayings were largely gang-related, prompting authorities to increase efforts to separate factions and frequently transfer prisoners.

Authorities have not yet been able to determine whether a gang war is behind the latest spate of killings.

Mr Moro was forced to send a federal task force to help tame violence in Ceara state in January that local officials said was ordered by gang leaders angered by plans to impose tighter controls in the state’s prisons. </s> Forty-two inmates were killed at three different prisons in the capital of Brazil’s northern Amazonas state on Monday, authorities reported.

The deaths came a day after 15 died during fighting among prisoners at a fourth prison in the same city.

The Amazonas state prison agency said all 42 prisoners found dead in Manaus on Monday showed signs of asphyxia.

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.

Many of those victims had their heads cut off or their hearts and intestines ripped out. </s> At least 40 prisoners were killed in four jails in northern Brazil on Monday over an apparent gang dispute, in the latest wave of violence to rock the country’s severely overpopulated and deadly prison system.

The latest incidents brought back memories of the mass butchery in January 2017 in Brazil north and northeastern prisons, resulting in 150 deaths. Then prison gangs backed by Brazil’s two largest drug factions – the First Capital Command and the Red Command – butchered one another.

The latest victims in Amazonas prisons appeared to have been killed by “asphyxiation,” the state government said in a statement. And it happened a day after 15 people were killed in one of the prisons.

Officials had initially put the number of dead at 42, but later revised the number to 40.

At least 25 of the victims were found in the Antonio Trindade Penal Institute near Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, where all four prisons are located.

No guns or knives were used in the killings, which prison officials said appeared to have been sparked by a “rift between prisoners who belonged to the same criminal group and were involved in drug trafficking in the state.”

The federal government has dispatched reinforcements to boost security in the jails.

“I just spoke with (Justice) Minister Sergio Moro, who is sending a prison intervention team to Amazonas so that he can help us in this moment of crisis,” state Governor Wilson Lima said.

An investigation launched into Sunday’s mass killing at the Anisio Jobim Penal Complex, in which some of the prisoners were stabbed with sharpened toothbrushes during visiting hours, has been widened to include Monday’s deaths.

Four of those killed in the latest violence were found at the Anisio Jobim jail, which was also the scene of a prison rebellion that lasted almost 20 hours and left 56 people dead in January 2017.

Another five were killed at the Provisional Detention Center for Men and six died at the Puraquequara Prison Unit.

“The fact that the killings were coordinated across four separate prisons… suggests that this was a settling of scores,” Robert Muggah, research director at the Igarape Institute think tank in Rio de Janeiro, told AFP.

The latest violence in Amazonas, one of Brazil’s most violent states, was “almost guaranteed to inspire retribution inside and outside the prison walls.”

Outbreaks of deadly violence are a recurring problem in Brazil’s jails due to the lack of structural changes, experts said.

“Prisons continue to be places of serious violations of human rights,” said Juliana Melo, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte.

“The conditions are appalling, with a majority of prisoners poor, black, badly schooled and marginalized.”

Brazil has the world’s third largest prison population after the United States and China, with 726,712 inmates as of June 2016, according to official statistics.

The population is double the capacity of the nation’s jails, which in the same year was estimated to be 368,049 inmates.

The federal government had been expected to add another 115,000 inmates by the end of 2018, Human Rights Watch said in a recent report. </s> Image copyright Reuters Image caption Relatives of inmates gather in front of a jail awaiting news after the deadly fights

Forty inmates have been found dead at four separate prisons in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state in northern Brazil.

All the bodies, which were found during routine inspections, showed signs of asphyxiation, officials said.

Monday's violence came a day after 15 prisoners were killed in jail clashes in Manaus.

The state governor said a task force had been sent to Amazonas to help control the disturbances.

What happened where on Monday?

Antonio Trindade penal institute: 25 killed

Puraquequara jail: 6 killed

Provisional Detention Centre for Men: 5 killed

Anísio Jobim jail: 4 killed

What's behind the deaths?

Image copyright AFP Image caption Riot police entered the Puraquequara jail in Manaus, where six bodies were found

Prison officials said that the victims belonged to the same drug trafficking group and that they had been killed due to an internal gang rift.

Robert Muggah, who is research director at the Igarape Institute think tank in Rio de Janeiro, told Agence France-Presse news agency that he thought a "settling of scores" was behind the killings.

What happened on Sunday?

Fifteen inmates died in clashes in Anísio Jobim jail when prisoners turned on each other. Some were stabbed with sharpened toothbrushes while others were strangled.

The violence broke out during visiting hours and the mother of one inmate described it as "total chaos".

"Everyone started to run, and everyone was pounding on the cell gates, at the doors, and running down the corridors."

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"It was not a rebellion, it was a fight among inmates," Col Marcus Vinicius, who is in charge of prisons in Amazonas state, said.

He said the fact that the killings had happened during visiting hours broke an unwritten prison rule of "never to kill during a family visit".

Col Vinicius said murders inside jails were inevitable: "We have to have the maturity to understand that in any prison in the world, when someone wants to kill, they will kill."

What are Brazilian jails like?

Brazil has the world's third-largest prison population with more than 700,000 people in jail, not counting the more than 35,000 held in police facilities, according to data from the World Prison Brief.

Prisons suffer from serious overcrowding, with the number of prisoners almost double that of the official capacity.

Many prisons are run by the inmates and there are frequent clashes between rival gangs. Riots to demand better conditions and prison escapes are also common.

Attempts to reform the prison system and to introduce tighter controls have met with resistance from powerful criminal gangs which operate both inside and outside of jails.

What has the reaction been?

The crisis in the Amazonas jail system is not new. In January 2017, in the worst jail violence in Amazonas state, 56 inmates were killed in Anísio Jobim prison.

Following those killing, officials launched an investigation which concluded that there had been a number of failings at the jail.

They included a lack of communication between prison authorities and the police, which meant that the latter had not been alerted when officials found out about plans to launch a riot.

In the following days there were also uprisings and riots in other jails in Manaus.

National security forces were deployed to Anísio Jobim jail and others in the wake of the 2017 killings and, according to local media, the forces were still there when the latest killings happened.

Amazonas State Governor Wilson Lima said that the justice ministry would send a "prison intervention team" to Manaus.

In the past, rival gangs have been separated within prisons by placing them in different wings and using shipping containers to divide the prison yard. </s> The Latest: 42 reported killed at 3 prisons in north Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The latest on deadly violence at prisons in northern Brazil (all times local):

Brazilian authorities say 42 inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the capital of the northern state of Amazonas, a day after 15 prisoners died in a riot at a fourth prison in the city.

The Amazonas state prison agency says the 42 prisoners found dead Monday at prisons in Manaus all showed signs of asphyxia.

On Sunday, state officials reported that 15 inmates were killed during a prison riot at a fourth jail in Manaus. That was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

Brazilian authorities say several inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the northern state of Amazonas.

Monday's report came a day after officials in Amazonas said 15 inmates had died during a prison riot at a fourth jail. That prison in the state capital of Manaus was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

The Amazonas state prison agency said Monday that several prisoners were "found dead by hanging inside their cells" during the day, but it could not yet give a precise number. Officials said they were still counting prisoners at the three jails.

The prison agency said that the situation was "under control" and that prisoners were under lockdowns. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO — The latest on deadly violence at prisons in northern Brazil (all times local):

Brazilian authorities say 42 inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the capital of the northern state of Amazonas, a day after 15 prisoners died in a riot at a fourth prison in the city.

The Amazonas state prison agency says the 42 prisoners found dead Monday at prisons in Manaus all showed signs of asphyxia.

On Sunday, state officials reported that 15 inmates were killed during a prison riot at a fourth jail in Manaus. That was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

Brazilian authorities say several inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the northern state of Amazonas.

Monday's report came a day after officials in Amazonas said 15 inmates had died during a prison riot at a fourth jail. That prison in the state capital of Manaus was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

The Amazonas state prison agency said Monday that several prisoners were "found dead by hanging inside their cells" during the day, but it could not yet give a precise number. Officials said they were still counting prisoners at the three jails.

The prison agency said that the situation was "under control" and that prisoners were under lockdowns. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The latest on deadly violence at prisons in northern Brazil (all times local):

Brazilian authorities say 42 inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the capital of the northern state of Amazonas, a day after 15 prisoners died in a riot at a fourth prison in the city.

The Amazonas state prison agency says the 42 prisoners found dead Monday at prisons in Manaus all showed signs of asphyxia.

On Sunday, state officials reported that 15 inmates were killed during a prison riot at a fourth jail in Manaus. That was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

Brazilian authorities say several inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the northern state of Amazonas.

Monday's report came a day after officials in Amazonas said 15 inmates had died during a prison riot at a fourth jail. That prison in the state capital of Manaus was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

The Amazonas state prison agency said Monday that several prisoners were "found dead by hanging inside their cells" during the day, but it could not yet give a precise number. Officials said they were still counting prisoners at the three jails.

The prison agency said that the situation was "under control" and that prisoners were under lockdowns. </s> RIO DE JANEIRO — The latest on deadly violence at prisons in northern Brazil (all times local):

Brazilian authorities say 42 inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the capital of the northern state of Amazonas, a day after 15 prisoners died in a riot at a fourth prison in the city.

The Amazonas state prison agency says the 42 prisoners found dead Monday at prisons in Manaus all showed signs of asphyxia.

On Sunday, state officials reported that 15 inmates were killed during a prison riot at a fourth jail in Manaus. That was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

Brazilian authorities say several inmates have been found dead at three different prisons in the northern state of Amazonas.

Monday’s report came a day after officials in Amazonas said 15 inmates had died during a prison riot at a fourth jail. That prison in the state capital of Manaus was the scene of a riot in January 2017 left 56 dead.

The Amazonas state prison agency said Monday that several prisoners were “found dead by hanging inside their cells” during the day, but it could not yet give a precise number. Officials said they were still counting prisoners at the three jails.

The prison agency said that the situation was “under control” and that prisoners were under lockdowns.
Brazil prison officials report at least 42 prisoners are found strangled to death in four separate jails in the state of Amazonas. Yesterday, 15 prisoners were killed in a fight between rival prison gangs at a facility near the Amazonas capital Manaus.