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LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 17 April 2018

Eight escape during prison break in Brazil’s Pará

Development: On 16 April, eight prisoners fled and seven were injured during a riot at the Centro de Recuperação Regional de Bragança (CRRB) prison in Brazil's north-eastern state of Pará.

Significance: Prisoners were rebelling against conditions described by human rights groups as medieval. Many were pre-trial detainees who demanded that their case be heard in court. Others complained of overcrowding in a prison which was built for 122 prisoners but which currently houses 315.

  • The riot began at around 06:15am local time when the guards came in to serve breakfast. Inside the prison, inmates began tearing down their cells, burning mattresses and breaking out onto the roof. At one point, a prisoner accused of sexual crimes was taken hostage by the other inmates, but he was later released.
  • Prison authorities in Pará state (Susipe) have not yet confirmed whether the fugitives coordinated with organised criminal groups operating in the area to carry out the riot. A February report from the national justice committee (CNJ) had pointed to a “high risk of external support” at the CRRB prison.
  • Susipe said the riot had been contained by the end of the day. A battalion from the Pará state military police force has been deployed to locate the fugitives. But according to local daily G1 four officers from the battalion are being investigated by state military courts for using excessive force which led to the death of five prisoners.
  • The incident comes after another Pará prison break was reported on 10 April at the Centro de Recuperãção Penitenciária enclosure in the municipality of Santa Izabel. This led to the killing of 21 inmates and one prison officer.

Looking Ahead: Pará’s location near Brazil’s northern border makes it particularly susceptible to organised crime. Local authorities are under pressure to find out whether the prison break relied on external support from them to prevent similar incidents in future. The low ratio of prison officers to inmates is another problem which urgently needs to be addressed.

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