Inmates hold 207 hostage in prison seige

Inmates at a prison in Brazil’s remote Amazon jungle today refused to release their 207 hostages even though authorities were prepared to meet their principal demand by returning their escaped leader from another prison.

Armed with makeshift knives, the inmates began their uprising during Sunday’s visiting hours at the Urso Branco State Prison in Rondonia’s state capital, Porto Velho, 1,500 miles north-west of Sao Paulo.

The 190 women and 17 men being held are relatives of the inmates.

Authorities agreed to return prison gang leader – Edinildo Paula de Souza, who had been transferred to another facility last week after his capture – but insisted that the hostages be released first.

The inmates refused, saying that Paula de Souza must be returned before the hostages are released.

“On Tuesday evening, it appeared that the inmates were going to release the hostages,” Rondonia state police spokesman, Lenilson Guedes said today.

“The end of the uprising seemed near, but then they backtracked and demanded that we make the first move. We will resume negotiations today.”

The Urso Branco prison was the site of a bloody five-day uprising in April 2004 that left 14 inmates dead, many of them hacked to death and tossed from the prison’s roof. Prisoners held hostage about 170 relatives then, most of them women.

Another inmate demand, which prison officials said would not be met, was the dismissal of Amadeu Sikorski, the prosecutor who ordered Paula de Souza’s transfer.

Paula de Souza escaped from Urso Branco on Nov. 24 through a tunnel he had dug in the prison’s vegetable garden. He was recaptured Dec. 21 and sent the next day to the Nova Mamore prison around 250 miles from Urso Branco.

The 27-year-old convict is considered a highly dangerous criminal and is serving a 30-year sentence for murder and armed robbery. Local media have reported that he orchestrated the 2004 riot at Urso Branco.

Guedes said there was no confirmation of the inmates’ claim that they have killed at least 10 other prisoners during the rebellion.

He said most of the approximately 1,000 inmates at Urso Branco were taking part in the rebellion. The prison was built to hold 350 inmates.