How prison gang members played kick-about with human heads in Brazil

A bloody prison clash on Monday between two gang rivals have left dozens dead in a prison, Altamira Regional Recovery Center, in the northern state of Pará in Brazil.

A horrific footage seen by The Guardian shows prisoners playfully kicking the heads of their dead rivals across the roof of the jail.
The footage emerged hours after a ‘rebellion’ broke out when gang members from one prison block invaded the prison annex and reportedly set part of it on fire on Monday morning.

A government official said 16 of the 57 dead were beheaded in the bloody five-hour-long clash that ended on Monday afternoon.
The battle marked the second-largest massacre in prison in 2019, according to Daily Mail Online.

Many of those who were killed were burned alive after being locked in their rooms before rivals set the prison wings on fire.

Local reports said that gang members of block A stormed block B, occupied by a rival group, locked a room and set it on fire, causing many prisoners to die of suffocation, according to Oservador.

Military police were called on the spot and negotiated with the prisoners who had barricaded themselves in a cell block.

Brazilian media have reported that two prison officers were held hostage in the clash, but were eventually released after negotiations with the civilian police and the Public Prosecution Service.