New clash erupts at Brazil prison where 26 killed

Inmates are seen walking freely inside the Gericino Penitentiary Complex, during a police and prison guard’s strike, in Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Brazil, Jan 17, 2017. Brazilian authorities are scrambling to stop a wave of prison violence that has killed at least 125 inmates in two weeks. Guards are demanding better working conditions and backpay that is owed to them. (Photo by SILVIA IZQUIERDO/AP)

RIO DE JANEIRO — Inmates threw rocks at each other and set up barriers Thursday inside a Brazilian penitentiary where 26 prisoners were recently killed in confrontations.

Live images on Globo television showed hundreds of prisoners in the yard of Alcacuz Penitentiary outside the northeast city of Natal. Inmates appeared to be separating themselves into two groups with makeshift barriers of pieces of wood, mattresses and other material. Injured prisoners were seen being carried off.

No prison guards could be seen.

“We need help immediately,” Robinson Faria, the governor of the state of Rio Grande do Norte, told CBN radio.

Faria said he had asked President Michel Temer to immediately dispatch troops from the Armed Forces. Beyond the prison, Faria said he wanted the troops to help patrol the streets of Natal, where several buses were burned late Wednesday. Authorities said they were investigating whether the burning was connected to turmoil in the prison.

In a statement, the governor’s office said “the security team is evaluating the situation.”

Prison authorities didn’t immediately respond to emails and phone calls seeking information about the clash.

Confrontations between two gangs in the prison erupted over the weekend, resulting in the 26 deaths. Many of the dead were dismembered.

Authorities said members of the Sao Paulo-based First Command, Brazil’s largest criminal gang, known by the Portuguese acronym PCC, fought with local gang Crime Syndicate of Rio Grande do Norte.

On Wednesday, a heavily armed military police force entered the prison without violence. Authorities said they transferred 220 inmates to other prisons to avoid more clashes.

Brazil is experiencing a wave of prison killings from warring gangs. At least 126 people have died since the beginning of the year.

Security experts say the trigger was the breakup of a long truce last year between the PCC and Red Command, a large gang based in Rio de Janeiro. –Peter Prengaman