How the war on drugs fuels deadly prison riots in Brazil

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How the war on drugs fuels deadly prison riots in Brazil

21 October 2016
Julita Lemgruber

Brazil has a prison problem. Recent crises have brought renewed attention to mass incarceration, overcrowding, and the lawlessness and inhumanity of Brazil’s jails – issues that are often ignored, but hardly new.

Two separate prison riots on October 15 led to the deaths at least 18 inmates. The next day, in an apparently unrelated incident, some three dozen inmates escaped from a São Paulo prison after a riot caused a fire there.

This is shocking but not unprecedented in Brazil. In May 2006, up to 200 died during mass prison uprisings and related violence, both inside and outside of prisons.

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