Pope Francis has deplored a bloody gang-related riot in a prison in Brazil this week which led to more than 60 inmates - mainly from one of the country's most notorious criminal gangs and a number of sex offenders - in Manaus.
Fighting broke out on Sunday (1 January) among inmates from rival gangs and the riot - the most deadly in Brazil for more than two decades - lasted more than 17 hours before the authorities began to regain control.
Those who were killed were mainly members of the PCC, one of Brazil’s largest criminal organisations, and also some convicts who were serving sentences for rape. The aggressors belonged to a local gang, the FDN, an ally of the Comando Vermelho, which competes with PCC in the country’s main prisons and cities.
As authorities regained control on Monday, they discovered that many of the victims of the violence had been beheaded, burned or had limbs hacked off. Some of the brutality inside the prison was recorded by fellow inmates and shared on social media websites. The bodies of some of the decapitated victims were thrown over the prison walls, according to Brazilian media.
During Wednesday’s general audience, Pope Francis deplored what he described as the “dramatic news” from Brazil.
“I express my pain and preoccupation over what happened, and invite everyone to pray for the dead, their families, for all the inmates in the prison and all who work there,” said Francis.
The Pope also spoke of the inherent dignity of all human life. “I renew my call that penitentiary institutions should be places of re-education and social reintegration, and also that the living conditions should respect human dignity.”
Francis’ words came after those of local Manaus archbishop D. Sérgio Eduardo Castrini who spoke out against “the mentality of those who trivialise life, thinking that it can be discarded, and that one can kill and practice any kind of crime and violence against fellow citizens”.
The written statement reminds the state that it is ultimately responsible for the safety of inmates and that the system should prioritise reintegration rather than let prisons become “schools for crime”.
In a separate article, the diocesan website points out that there are currently over 600,000 people in a prison system which has room for less than 400,000, leading to severe overcrowding. The prison chaplaincy services criticise the fact that some prisons are run by private companies, which prefer the overcrowding as it provides more profit.
The prison massacre in Manaus was the third worst in Brazilian history, after the Carandiru riots in 1992, which left 111 dead, and the Anchieta Island riots in 1952, in which 108 people lost their lives.
PICTURE - Families of prisoners gather by the gates of the prison in Manaus to await news of the loved ones. More than 60 inmates were murdered in vicious riots that saw some victims decapitated and a number of gun battles between the authorities and the rioting prisoners before order was restored on Monday
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