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Fear and confusion reign…… outside a prison in the Amazon city of Manaus.More than 184 inmates escaped during a bloody riot.This — while 12 police officers were taken hostage.With the night drawing in…… the desperate relatives gathered outside — waiting for information on their loved ones. “My son is in there. The police have nothing to do with him… I want to know where my son is and how he is.”The following day, the security official for Amazonas state held a news conference.He spoke of the biggest prison massacre in over two decades.For 15 hours, 56 detainees were brutally beaten and tortured by a rival gang.(SOUNDBITE) SERGIO FONTES, HEAD OF PUBLIC SECURITY FOR AMAZONAS”Not all of them were decapitated, but a large number of the prisoners were beheaded, and from what we’ve seen, there was a great deal of abuse. This was somehow a way of sending a message to the other side.” A war between gangs that has already spilled onto the streets…… and other prison units.At the Anísio Jobim peni/ten/tiary, the dispute was between Família do Norte and the country’s most powerful criminal gang, the Pri/mei/ro Comando da Capital.And these mutinies are frequent in the country.Inside prisons, it’s the gangs that make laws.They fight for control of drug trafficking.And the state is powerless.(SOUNDBITE) SERGIO FONTES, HEAD OF PUBLIC SECURITY FOR AMAZONAS”The inmates had made a promise to the guards. They promised that everything would be calm and that there would be no problems during the holidays. They didn’t keep their promise. But should we really trust criminals?” An admission of failure… But overcrowding in Brazil’s prison system has made security a challenge.(DLS)With 622,000 inmates identified by the Department of Justice in 2014…… nearly 9,000 in the Amazonas, Brazil has the fourth largest prison population in the world — behind the US, China and Russia.Nationwide, there was an average of 1.67 prisoners for every available space. But in Amazonas state, the figure was 2.59 prisoners for every space.//Taking advantage of the commotion…… many escaped from prison — and are now on the run in the dense rain forest.Among them Brayan Bremer: serving a sentence for robbery.He’s even found the time to capture his life as a fugitive — for the world to see.But some of his companions in these photos have already been captured.
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