Another Prison Riot in Brazil Leaves 33 Inmates Dead

By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Four days after one of the bloodiest prison riots Brazil has witnessed, another prison riot in Brazil’s Amazon region has left at least 33 inmates dead. According to authorities from the state’s Department of Justice and Citizenship, the deaths occurred in the early hours of Friday at the Monte Cristo Agricultural Penitentiary, just outside Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state.

Officials say police from the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) of the Military Police entered the prison, the largest in the state, early this morning and authorities say the situation is now under control. Local media is releasing images they say is from the prison of prisoners who may have been beheaded.

The news of the latest prison violence comes on the day that the federal government is announcing its security plan. Brazil’s Minister of Justice, Alexandre de Moraes, is presenting Friday morning a final draft of the National Public Security Plan.

According to the official, unlike the previous security plans, this will be an operational plan and not one of intentions. The document is expected to receive suggestions from the state secretariats to be finalized. On the final last days of 2016 the Brazilian federal government announced that it would disburse R$1.2 billion for the construction of new prisons and the modernization of the Brazilian penal system.

“This is the first time that a plan is built with the participation of state secretaries, public entities, organized civil society, among others. That is why it will be more realistic and, unlike the previous ones, it is not a plan of intentions, but operational, with three main axes: integration, cooperation and collaboration,” stated Moraes Friday morning to reporters.