Sao Paulo state prison authorities and local media have reported the breaking out of Hundreds of prisoners from four Brazilian jails on Monday, the day before their day-release privileges were to be suspended over the coronavirus
The Sao Paulo state prison authority proclaimed that it could not get the accurate number of inmates that had escaped as it was “still tallying the exact number of fugitives.” Local media reported that as many as 1,000 had fled from four jails – Mongaguá, Tremembé, Porto Feliz and Mirandópolis – ahead of the lockdown.
A video on social media has appeared showing a long stream of prisoners purportedly fleeing a prison. The Sao Paulo state prison authority said “acts of insubordination” had taken place at the jails ahead of the suspension of the day-release program.
The suspension was necessary, it added because 34,000 convicts would be returning to jail and “would have a high potential to install and propagate the coronavirus in a vulnerable population, generating health risks for servers and custodians. It further said law enforcement was “taking care of the situation.”
The state of Sao Paulo is home to the First Capital Command, Brazil’s most powerful prison gang. Brazil’s overfilled prisons frequently witness deadly prison riots between rival gangs.
