State public security secretary Sergio Fontes said that in addition to the deaths, some inmates escaped, but he did not say how many. Several prison guards were held hostage.
\u201cThis is the biggest prison massacre in our state\u2019s history,\u201d Fontes said during a press conference. The riot began Sunday afternoon and lasted until Monday morning.
Two of the biggest crime gangs of Brazil began fighting last year over control of several prisons and authorities in Amazonas believe that\u2019s the reason behind the first riot of 2017.
Fontes said the inmates made few demands to end the riot, which hints at a killing spree organized by members of a local gang against those of another that is based in Sao Paulo.
The secretary said officers found a hole in a prison wall through which authorities believe weapons entered the building.
Fontes confirmed that many of the dead had been beheaded and Judge Luis Carlos Valois, who negotiated the end of the riot with inmates, said he saw many bodies that were quartered.
\u201cI never saw anything like that in my life. All those bodies, the blood,\u201d Valois wrote on Facebook.
Valois said that during the negotiations, inmates only asked \u201cthat we did not transfer them, made sure they were not attacked and kept their visitation.\u201d
The BBC reports the riot began when six headless bodies were tossed over the prison\u2019s walls. The prison, which was built for roughly 460 inmates, is believed to house almost 600.
Brazil\u2019s frequently overcrowded prisons occasionally see bloody riots featuring dismemberment .
The riot ended after the inmates freed the last of the 12 prison staffers they had held hostage, Valois said.
In another prison in Amazonas, 87 inmates escaped in the first hours of Monday, Fonte said.
One of the inmates posted a picture on Facebook as he left the prison.<\/p>\n

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