RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) — Inmates at a crowded jail in Brazil’s Amazon ended a 28-hour uprising Sunday, surrendering to authorities after killing three leaders of the rebellion, news reports said.
Two of the victims were thrown to their deaths off a prison wall.
Some 280 inmates at the Sao Jose prison in Belem, about 2,000 miles north of Rio de Janeiro, surrendered after officials allowed relatives in for brief visits, TV Globo News said.
The rebellion began as a jailbreak on Saturday, apparently over poor conditions.
The prisoners seized nine hostages, including a priest and two nuns, and threatened to kill them unless authorities provided cars, guns, bullets and bulletproof vests for 50 prisoners, the station said.
After prison authorities refused to negotiate, inmates who wanted to end the rebellion killed the three leaders and another prisoner.
In one dramatic scene shown on national television, police rescued a severely injured inmate who was still alive after being thrown off the wall. The police needed shields to protect themselves from flying bricks, sticks and roof tiles.
Many prisons in Brazil are overcrowded and are hit by frequent uprisings. The Sao Jose jail, for example, houses 280 inmates with a capacity for only 150.