Number of Dead in Pará Prison Riot Rises to 57; 46 Detainees will be Transferred

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Superintendency of the Pará Penitentiary System (Susipe) has confirmed the rise in the number of deaths from 52 to 57 inmates, after a confrontation between criminal factions within the Altamira Regional Correctional Center in Pará state.

On Monday, July 29th, leaders of the “Comando Classe A” (CCA) set fire to the cell where “Comando Vermelho” (CV) prisoners were incarcerated. According to Susipe, 41 died of suffocation by smoke inhalation, and sixteen were beheaded.

The Office of Public Security Management ordered the immediate transfer of 46 prisoners involved in the confrontation. Among the prisoners being transferred are 16 detainees who have been identified as leaders of criminal factions.

Ten of them will move to the federal system. The remaining prisoners will be redistributed between other penitentiaries in Pará.

Governor Helder Barbalho lamented the incident at the Altamira facility and stressed the efforts that his administration is undertaking to reduce violence within the prisons of Pará.

“Since the government’s inception, we have done everything in our power to contain crime outside and within the prison system. With the support of the Ministry of Justice, we transferred more than 30 leaders of criminal factions to Catanduvas, in Paraná, as a preventive measure,” he said.

The Renato Chaves Forensics Science Center (CPC) has started removing the bodies of the detainees killed in the confrontation. A refrigerated truck was used for transport.

The Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) in Pará issued a note concerning the massacre that took place in the Altamira correctional facility. The institution reported that the case became severe due to the fact that, of the 311 detainees in the facility, 145 are still awaiting trial.

The National Council of Justice (CNJ) produced a report pointing to the Altamira facility as overcrowded and in poor condition. On Monday, July 29th, before the confrontation between rival factions that resulted in the death of 57 detainees, the prison with a maximum capacity of 200 inmates housed 311 prisoners.

Although the facility had exceeded the maximum number of places by 55.5 percent, Susipe superintendent Jarbas Vasconcelos had failed to rate the facility as overcrowded and expects to have a newly build detention facility delivered soon.