Sao Paulo authorities quell prison riots that stirred fresh fears
EFENews (Spain)
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Sao Paulo - Three simultaneous prison uprisings that left one inmate killed and generated renewed fears of violence in the southern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo were brought under control Saturday, officials said.
Friday's rebellions took place one month after the powerful First Command of the Capital, or PCC, prison gang organized simultaneous riots in close to 80 penitentiaries of Sao Paulo state that left a total of nine dead. The gang also launched some 300 attacks over five days in Sao Paulo on police stations, police vehicles, government buildings, buses and banks that killed 41 police officers and 4 civilians.
The attacks were launched in retaliation for the transfer of 765 inmates, among them the gang's top leaders, to maximum security prisons.
A subsequent crackdown by security forces, which left 79 suspected criminals dead, was harshly criticized by rights groups as indiscriminate vengeance.
Despite the fears generated by this new round of uprisings, Sao Paulo state's Prison Administration Secretariat released a statement Saturday saying that authorities had retaken control of the three prisons and that the people taken hostage by the inmates had been released.
The rioting inmates at the Itirapina penitentiary, 213 kilometers (132 miles) from Sao Paulo, freed their hostages late Saturday morning, putting an end to the last of the three uprisings.
A couple of hours earlier, police had occupied the Araraquara prison - 273 kilometers northwest of Sao Paulo - and quelled the uprising there, while a rebellion at the Mirandopolis penitentiary - some 600 kilometers west of Sao Paulo - ended Friday night when six hostages were released.
According to the Prison Administration Secretariat, the only fatality from the uprisings was an inmate killed in a settling of scores among rival gangs.
Authorities said Friday's uprisings were due to protests over prison overcrowding and ruled out the participation of members of the PCC. All three of the prisons where the uprisings occurred house hundreds more prisoners than the penitentiaries' stated maximum capacity.
Although authorities were quick to dismiss suggestions of the PCC's involvement, prison overcrowding is the main reason why gangs such as the PCC, which was formed 13 years ago in a Sao Paulo prison, have staged uprisings.
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