The death toll in Brazilian prison riots rose to 93 in six days after the latest incident in Rio de Janeiro on Friday.
Gang violence has led to grisly scenes of beheaded inmates and bodies with hearts ripped out of them in Friday’s prison riot. Gang leaders wrote the ominous message “Blood is paid for with blood” using the blood of their victims.
The most recent episode killed 31 inmates in Monte Cristo Agricultural Penitentiary in Boa Vista—which is run by the state and has a history of inmate violence and escapes.
The prison sits in the capital of the northern state of Roraima in the Amazon River Basin. The facility was built to hold 700 inmates but holds around twice that.
Just two days before the massacre in Boa Vista, 56 people were killed in a similar incident in a prison in Manaus. Two other riots in Amazonas and Paraíba left six dead.
The riots have become a critical issue for President Michel Temer—whose administration is struggling with corruption scandals, economic problems, and dissatisfaction with the justice system.
“The bloodshed is revealing a war between drug gangs, a failed prison system and a weak government,” said Rafael Alcadipani, a researcher of public security policies at Fundação Getúlio Vargas, a top Brazilian university. “And now the horror is spreading.”
The recent prison riots may indicate escalating brutality between gangs for control of the cocaine trade in the Amazon region.
Some speculate that the recent disturbance is the result of tensions between the First Capital Command (P.C.C.)—which originated from prisons in the capital city of São Paulo—and associates of the Red Command—a longstanding trafficking ring from Rio de Janeiro.
Brazilian authorities have not confirmed that the two gangs are responsible.
The massacre in the Manaus prison was a planned attack on the P.C.C. by the Family of the North—an affiliate of the Red Command.
President Temer is under criticism for his response to the series of events which included referring to the deaths in Manaus a “dreadful accident.”
Despite growing skepticism of Temer’s policies on prison and against gang violence, Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes attempted to quell simmering resentment.
“The situation is not out of control,” Moraes said.
