16 Decapitated in Grisly Brazil Prison Riot

52 inmates were killed over 5 hours in the Altamira prison
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 29, 2019 2:17 PM CDT
16 Decapitated in Grisly Brazil Prison Riot
A cemetery worker prepares burial sites for some of the inmates who were killed in prison riots, in Manaus, Brazil, in May. Some 55 inmates died in riots that month. On Monday, 52 were killed in a prison in a neighboring state.   (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

A five-hour-long prison riot in Brazil was both deadly and gruesome, officials say. Some 52 inmates were killed by other prisoners Monday in the Altamira prison in the northern part of the country; 16 of them were decapitated while others were asphyxiated. The BBC reports that beginning around 7am local time, gang members from one cell block attacked rival gang members in another part of the jail.

Fires set by the inmates delayed authorities' ability to access some areas of the prison. The state prisons chief says the death toll could increase once a review of the prison is complete, reports the AP. Prison crowding is a problem in Brazil. To wit, the BBC cites local media that said the prison held 311 inmates, but had a maximum capacity of 200. In May, 55 inmates held at prisons in a neighboring state died after two days of riots there.

(More Brazil stories.)

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