arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

2001.02.19 12:17:11 BRASILIA, February 18 (Xinhua)--

Five people have been killed and three others injured in Sunday's riots involving 17 prisons in the state of Sao Paulo, police authorities confirmed. Police officials, quoted by local press reports, said that as of late Sunday night, riots in most of the jails were brought under control. But it is still not clear whether the more than one thousand hostages have been released by the rioting prisoners.

The riots started during the visit hours Sunday morning in Carandiru prison, the largest in Latin America with nearly 7,000 inmates, in the northern part of Sao Paulo. The rioting inmates took hostage 45 prison guards and more than 1,200 prisoners' relatives who were on a visit. The riot then spread to other prisons in the state. The rioting prisoners were protesting last Friday's transfer of 10 prison leaders from Carandiru who belonged to a criminal group that deals drugs and arms in Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo public security secretary Marco Vinicio Petreluzzi said Sunday at a news conference. A large number of anti-riot police and government troops were soon sent to seal the troubled prison, where ammunition, knives and cell phones have been found in prison cells, Petreluzzi said. Negotiations are underway between the authorities and rebels for the release of hostages, said the official. But he stressed that the police will not return the 10 prisoner leaders and the local government will take resolute measures against crimes within prisons. He said the riots were staged under instructions from the gang' s leaders.