Prisoners set for showdown over riots

Prisoners in Brazil are due to meet ministers after they threatened more rioting when officials banned visits during the Carnival holiday.

Ministers are due to discuss the prisoners' demands after the rioting left 16 dead in 29 establishments across Sao Paulo state.

Another four inmates have died in smaller riots in two other jails this week. Three suffocated in the back of a police van. Another had his throat slit by other prisoners and his body thrown from the roof.

Justice Minister Jose Gregori and Nagashi Furukawa, head of Sao Paulo's prison administration, are to discuss the demands for visits from Saturday until Tuesday.

As news of the ban on visits spread, prison authorities were bombarded by letters and petitions from inmates across the state, the Estado de Sao Paulo daily has reported.

It said prisoners disliked having to pay for the actions of the group behind last weekend's rebellion, the First Capital Command, known by its Portuguese acronym PCC.

The paper quoted Armando Tambelli of Sao Paulo prisons' pastoral service as saying the prisoners "guarantee they will do nothing" if they can receive visitors.

"But if there are no visits, they promised to start another rebellion," Tambelli was quoted as saying.

The PCC has also promised more unrest if there are no visits over the holiday, arguably Brazil's most important.

An organized crime group that deals in drugs, arms and robbery, the PCC masterminded the riots in Sao Paulo's notorious Carandiru jail to protest the transfer of five of its leaders from the prison.

Acting state Governor Geraldo Alckmin has refused to negotiate with the PCC and announced a plan to reform the prison service, including building 17 new establishments for 12,000 prisoners, and hiring more than 1,300 new prison guards.