At least 40 inmates have been found strangled to death across four separate prisons in Brazil.
The night of violence came less than 24 hours after 15 people were killed in a riot involving rival gangs at one of the prisons.
All of the murdered prisoners were discovered by staff during routine inspections at the prison in the Amazon jungle city of Manaus. Local officials said they all showed signs of asphyxia.
Local Governor Wilson Lima said the Government was sending a task force to reinforce the prison service’s efforts to bring the violence to an end.
He said reinforcements were being sent to "help us in this moment of crisis” and warned that the problem was a national one for Brazil.”
Nesta segunda-feira, conversei com o ministro da Justiça, Sérgio Moro, que garantiu enviar uma força tarefa ao Amazonas para reforçar o trabalho que vem sendo feito pelo grupo de intervenção prisional, que agiu de maneira rápida neste domingo.#segurança #governodoamazonas pic.twitter.com/bN3AO2rjeI
— Wilson Lima (@wilsonlimaAM) May 28, 2019
Brazil has the world’s largest prison population with over 700,000 inmates in incarceration.
Clashes between gangs are known to spread quickly across the country’s prisons – with many effectively run by the inmates.
In January 2017, nearly 170 people were killed during fighting among rival gangs.
During the violence, 56 people were killed at the Anisio Jobim Prison Complex in Manaus, where Sunday’s riot broke out.
Police guard the entrance to the Anisio Jobim Prison Complex in Manaus after a deadly riot erupted among inmates, 26-05-2019. Image: AP Photo/Edmar BarrBrazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has pledged to reform the prison system by regaining control of the system and building new ones.
However, the vast majority of jails are administered at state level and have been overcrowded and out of control for decades.
