February 20, 2001

Hostages held in Brazilian prison refuse to leave

Fears for captors: Troops retake control of 29 prisons after synchronized riots

 Marina Jiménez, National Post, with files from news services

SAO PAULO - Government troops entered 29 prisons in Sao Paulo state yesterday to regain control of more than 20,000 inmates who launched synchronized mutinies on Sunday in the largest revolt in Brazil's penal history.

The police freed approximately 6,000 hostages, most of them members of inmates' families who had arrived for visiting day and been swept up in the series of riots that left 15 prisoners dead.

Once free, however, many of the wives, girlfriends and children of inmates who had been held inside Carandiru prison refused to go home.

Hundreds stood in the scorching sun, nose to nose with riot police armed with shotguns and pistols who were poised to retake the jail.

"I'm afraid the cops will go in now and kill the prisoners," said Patricia Fernandez Ramos, 27, sitting on a piece of cardboard on the curb, mopping her brow. "So I'm staying put. I'm afraid of police brutality." She was visiting her husband, who is serving a sentence for assault, when the riots broke out.

One older woman, on the verge of tears, asked a police officer anxiously: "Are they announcing the names of those who died?"

The ringleaders of the riot were from Carandiru, the notoriously violent and overcrowded detention centre in the heart of this city of 10 million where David Spencer, the Canadian convicted of kidnapping a supermarket magnate, served time. During a riot in 1992 at Latin America's largest prison, 111 inmates were killed.

"1992 was the worst. I hope it doesn't happen again," said Ms. Ramos, dressed in a tank top and flip-flops and clutching a cigarette lighter.

Barefoot children, politicians and carefully coiffed television journalists filled out the crowd around Carandiru's gates yesterday, as mounted riot police and foot patrol officers stood sentry. Earlier in the day, police had used tear gas to subdue hysterical relatives of some of the 10,000 inmates of a prison built for 3,500. Some family members threw stones and bottles at the vast concrete complex, fearful the inmates would suffer reprisals.

The uprising was planned by a drug-trafficking ring inside Carandiru called First Capital Commando, and timed to take advantage of visiting hours. Sunday conjugal visits were established after the 1992 riots as a distraction for convicts, who each receive at least 30 minutes of private time in their cramped cells.

Inmates used cellphones smuggled in with the help of corrupt guards to co-ordinate the state-wide revolt.

The First Capital Commando leaders were angry 10 gang members had been transferred on Friday from Carandiru to prisons in other states.

"This riot proves they're a very powerful organization," a local television reporter said. "They were flexing their muscles. The Governor of the state has now said he will negotiate directly with the gang members."

When the riot broke out, Ms. Ramos was in the courtyard enjoying her weekly visit and sharing a homemade lasagna with her husband. "I was not scared," she said. "We were just told to go to his cell. I was more afraid of the police."

Maria Elena was also sitting in the courtyard with her two sons, who are both in jail for robbery, when the inmates announced their insurrection. "I was scared about what would happen," said the 46-year-old woman, who slept overnight in her sons' cell.

"My sons were talking to a guy, and then later the guards shot the guy. It was terrible. I am staying out here offering my sons psychological support."

White sheets hung from a number of cell windows yesterday, some with blood stains, others with Paz [Peace] written in black.

A report by Brazil's congressional human rights commission described the country's prison system as a reinvention of Hell. Prisoners are subjected to electric shocks and near-drowning, as well as severe overcrowding that deprives them of sleep, access to toilets and medical care.

Last week, Nagashi Furukawa, the state Secretary of Prisons, said he was looking for technology to block cellphone signals inside the prisons.