BRASILIA, July 15 (Xinhua)
-- A riot at Itirapina prison in
Brazil 's southern state of Sao
Paulo ended Monday morning with the
death of two inmates and the
release of 65 hostages following 22 hours
of tension and violence, authorities
said.
Negotiations between prison
authorities and the inmates succeeded
in putting an end to the
rioting at 8:20 a.m. local time (11:20
GMT), before riot troops entered the
facility.
Sao Paulo's
Secretariat for Prison Management said
in a statement that the riot in
the city of Itirapina, some 200 km
from the state capital Sao Paulo,
was sparked by "a dispute between
two inmates."
The Secretariat
confirmed two prisoners were killed
allegedly in fighting between rival
gangs.
The hostages were
relatives and friends of inmates who
were visiting in the prison at
the time the riot broke out at
noon on Sunday.
The riot
marks the first of its kind in
the state where there are total
of 156 prisons, according to the
statement.
Itaparina prison was
built to accommodate 210 inmates, but
currently houses as many as 602.
