Escaped psychiatric inmates still at large in Brazil

Riot police officers check inmates after clashing between rival criminal factions at a prison in Boa Vista, Brazil, on Oct 17, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

SAO PAULO (AFP) - Six prisoners remained at large on Tuesday (Oct 18) after a mass breakout following a riot in the psychiatric wing of a Sao Paulo prison, authorities said.

The Sao Paulo state prison service said that "49 of the 55 fugitives from the Custody and Psychiatric Treatment Hospital at Franco da Rocha (penitentiary) have already been recaptured."

The riot started on Monday in the psychiatric facility, with fires set in seven buildings.

According to Brazilian press reports on Tuesday prisoners were protesting the transfer of five inmates to another facility.

Franco da Rocha in the southeast of Brazil was only the latest prison to be rocked by violent unrest, while mass breakouts are a regular occurrence.

Also Monday, a fight erupted between rival gangs at a prison in the far northern state of Roraima, with 10 inmates burned or decapitated in the violence, the regional government said.

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