By Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian officials say 42 inmates were found dead at three prisons because of violent clashes among rival drug factions in several prisons in the northern Brazilian state of Amazonas.
This happened only a day after 15 deaths during a riot at another jail.
A federal task force is being sent to Manaus to halt the violence. Prison clashes often spread rapidly in Brazil.
The outbreak of violence, which began on Sunday, is the latest in a state where drug gangs have waged a vicious battle for supremacy as smuggling routes that run along northern Brazil have become increasingly profitable.
The bloodshed comes as the Brazilian government is taking steps to assert greater control over the country’s chronically overcrowded and underfunded prisons, where drug kingpins have long managed to run their trade from behind bars with relative ease.
In January 2017, nearly 150 prisoners died during three weeks of violence in the north and northeastern Brazil, as local gangs, backed by Brazil’s two largest drug factions – the First Capital Command and the Red Command – butchered one another.
A statement from the Amazonas state penitentiary department confirmed the number of deaths that took place on Monday and said authorities had regained control of the four prisons. No other details were provided.