A prison riot in Brazil’s remote Amazon jungle state of Rondônia has left four people dead and inmates on Tuesday, January 24, threatened to kill their two hostages – the prison’s warden and security director – officials said.
The uprising began Monday night at the Agenor Martins de Carvalho prison in Ji-Paraná, some 1,335 miles northwest of São Paulo, according to Rondônia state police spokesman Lenilson Guedes.
"Inmates called out to the guards saying that a prisoner was ill and had to be taken to the infirmary," Guedes said by telephone.
"When three guards entered the cell to escort the prisoner to the infirmary, three inmates opened fire with .38 caliber revolvers." He said it was unclear how the inmates got the guns.
"One of the guards was shot through the heart and died instantly and three inmates died in the ensuing shootout with the other two guards," Guedes added.
About half of the prison’s 300 inmates then took advantage of the confusion and tried to escape but were stopped by heavily armed guards and police.
When prison warden Joel de Araújo Pereira and security director Eliseu Segatto Pereira arrived to calm things down, they were grabbed by a group of prisoners and held hostage, Guedes said,
Pravda – www.pravda.ru