Threatened Inmates in Amazonas Swap Prisons Twice in Less than a Day

01/11/2017 - 12h23

In another sign of the chaotic situation of the prison system in Amazonas State, 20 inmates threatened with death were transferred from one city to another twice in less than 24 hours.

The group was in the Anísio Jobim Penitentiary Complex during the New Year massacre, which left 56 inmates dead. For their safety, they were transferred the next day to a public jail in downtown Manaus, which had been shut down since October.

The measure did not prevent four inmates from being killed on Sunday (8). Two others managed to escape the building.

On Monday (9) morning, the inmates were taken to a prison in Itacoatiara, 270 km from Manaus, but a court decision made them return to the public jail at dawn on Tuesday (10).

Sérgio Fontes, State Secretary of Public Security, says that the public jail has once again become the best option because it is easier to control. According to him, the fight on Sunday was controlled by the Military Police in 15 minutes.

Regarding the transferred group, the secretary said that it's made by "the type of prisoner nobody wants". "The PCC [First Command of the Capital, in its Portuguese acronym] does not want them, the FDN [Northern Family] does not want them, nobody wants them. They are rapists, ex-cops, burglars they understand that they have betrayed the factions."

The two criminal factions are at war in the Amazonas state for the control of drug trafficking. The FDN, allied with the Comando Vermelho, from Rio de Janeiro, against the PCC, was blamed for the massacre in the New Year.

Translated by MARINA DELLA VALLE

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