Prosecutors in Brazil have charged more than 200 inmates in connection to one of the country’s bloodiest prison massacres in recent years, as the security situation on the ground continues to deteriorate and macabre details of the uprising come to light.
On November 24,
the Attorney General’s Office for Brazil’s northwest Amazonas state (Ministério
Público do Estado do Amazonas – MP-AM) issued a press release detailing
charges against 213 inmates for their involvement in the January 2017 Anísio
Jobim prison massacre that left 56 inmates dead.
The violence was
part of a feud between two prison gangs, the Family of the North (Família do
Norte – FDN) and the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC).
The two groups are reportedly battling for control over the drug trade in
Brazil’s Amazon region.
Prosecutors
charged the defendants with murder, torture, desecration of a corpse and
illicit association, according to the press release.
Following the unveiling
of the charges, prosecutors also revealed some gruesome details of the
massacre. According to the criminal complaint, captured FDN and PCC members who
unsuccessfully tried to escape the carnage were allegedly forced to eat the
eyeballs of inmates who had been killed that day, Estadão reported.
InSight Crime Analysis
Many of the
discussions regarding Brazil’s deteriorating security situation – which
President Michel Temer recently dubbed a “national emergency” – have focused
on the recent battle between rival criminal groups that has left one of the
country’s largest favelas in a “state of siege.” But the
latest criminal charges are a stark reminder of the country’s ongoing crisis in
the jails, which is arguably the main source of insecurity.
To be sure, 2016
ended with a series of deadly clashes within
Brazil’s prisons sparked by the end of a fragile alliance between
the PCC and the Red Command (Comando Vermelho – CV), both of which were born in
the prison system. The first week of 2017 followed with nearly 100 inmates killed as
part of the unfolding gang war.
While Brazil’s
prison system has notoriously been overcrowded and underfunded, the PCC-Red
Command alliance had long established order within
them. The breakdown of this alliance will most likely continue to spill onto
the streets and further jeopardize security.
