Police gain control in Brazil's biggest jail riot

12:00 PM

SAO PAULO - Security forces have quelled Brazil's biggest riot which left at least 15 dead.

7,000 hostages were released as a search for bodies and guns was carried out.

Troops dressed in body armor and carrying rifles swept through Latin America's biggest prison, Carandiru, in what appeared to be a negotiated end to the bloody 25-hour siege.

They started a cell-by-cell search with prison guards in the biggest of the 29 prisons but pulled out of the decrepit compound before nightfall, saying they would only complete the search on Tuesday. Independent observers and riot police will stay overnight to prevent further bloodshed.

"The rebellion is over, but we won't know with any certainty in what conditions or how many deaths until we finish the search," said Renato Simoes, the president of the human rights commission in the state assembly.

The uprisings broke out at midday on Sunday when some 20,000 rioting inmates took relatives, friends and prison guards hostage during visiting hours in Brazil's wealthiest and most populous state of Sao Paulo. By Monday afternoon, 29 prisons had joined the massive rebellion.

At least 15 inmates were killed, including one prisoner who was found with stab wounds and strangulation marks in a rubbish bin inside Carandiru on Monday.

Television showed three unarmed inmates shot by riot police who had climbed up a wall overlooking the prison. Another two men were found hanged inside the compound.

The riot was organized by a powerful prison gang called the First Commando of the Capital (PCC), to protest the transfer of its leaders from Carandiru to other Sao Paulo prisons.

Human rights activists say severe overcrowding and torture fueled the riots and helped the gang rally supporters.

"This shows how tenuous the control authorities have over prison conditions is," said James Cavallaro of Justica Global human rights group, calling the coordinated uprising a "unique event" in the history of Brazilian prisons. "This can repeat itself at any time."

Authorities regained control of 28 prisons by Monday afternoon and finally moved on Carandiru, the riot's last stand, after inmates freed thousands of hostages.

Many wives and mothers did not want to leave fearing that riot troops would retaliate once they were gone but finally agreed to file out five at a time after searches. Carandiru was the site of a notorious police massacre of 111 prisoners after an uprising in 1992.

Hundreds of the women and children who were released formed human barriers trying to prevent police from entering and shouted "Assassins!" at them.

"There were no hostages, we stayed because we didn't want the shock troops to invade to kill our husbands," said Joselina Ignacio Oliveira, 37, who kneeled in prayer before the police after spending the night in Carandiru.

Her husband, who was sentenced to two years for illegal possession of firearms, shares a cell that has eight beds for 17 prisoners.

Helicopter footage showed naked prisoners in one of the cellblocks squatting on the cement floor of an open patio, with heavily armed troops keeping guard.

The riots started in Carandiru, but PCC leaders used cellular phones and alleged arms arsenals to organize a statewide uprising.

"This synchronized explosion is an event without precedents in Brazil," said Justice Minister Jose Gregori. "Authorities are reacting sensibly, resolving the situation without resorting to violence."

Severe overcrowding, alleged torture of inmates by guards and scarce funds for basic health provisions lead Brazil's 230,000 inmates to riot with surprising frequency.

Before the latest uprisings, five inmates were murdered last week allegedly at the orders of the PCC. Prison officials transferred the PCC's top 10 leaders to other prisons following the killings, sparking the latest uprisings.

In the initial search of Carandiru on Monday police found 12 cellular phones and 260 weapons but no guns.

Sao Paulo state, the wealthiest and most populous in this country of 170 million, had hoped to close down the crumbling Carandiru prison which was built in the 1920s and transfer its inmates to new, less-crowded facilities in the rural interior.

But a rise in crimes and convictions pushed the prison population up in recent years and stopped authorities from deactivating the sprawling cement maze near the center of the city of 10 million.

- REUTERS