Inmates kill leaders of uprising, end 65-hour rebellion in Brazil

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Inmates wanting to end a 65-hour rebellion at a prison in western Brazil killed the leaders of the uprising and released 150 hostages yesterday, most of them their own relatives, police said.

The uprising began during visiting hours Thursday at the Carumbe prison in Cuiaba, 800 miles northwest of Sao Paulo in the state of Mato Grosso.

Most of the prisoners, worried about their relatives, tried to persuade the leaders to end the rebellion and let the hostages go, Maj. Valdivinio Tavares Pimentel of the Cuiaba police department said. "When the uprising's seven leaders refused, a group overpowered them and stabbed them to death with makeshift knives."

The hostages, who included four guards, were released unhurt shortly thereafter. The visitors who were taken hostage included 97 women, seven men and 42 children. None of the uprising's leaders had relatives among the hostages.

Pimentel said that among the leaders killed was Jose Carlos Nascimento a member of the First City Command, a criminal gang that in February led simultaneous rebellions in 27 prisons and jails in Sao Paulo state.

The prisoners had been demanding the firing of warden Elpidio Onofre Claro, whom they accused of ill-treatment and corruption.

"But they really wanted to get rid of him because he had recently frustrated a mass escape attempt with the discovery of seven tunnels, two of which were near completion," Pimentel said.

Carumbe was built for 250 prisoners but holds about 370. It was unclear how many inmates took part in the rebellion or how many were involved in the killing of the seven leaders.