He said some bodies had been found decapitated after the incident in the Monte Cristo Rural Penitentiary.
But the situation was now under control, he added.
Officials told local media that a group of prisoners managed to break the locks on their cells in the early hours of the morning and invade a separate wing of the building, which is in the city of Boa Vista.
Special forces are on site.
Mr Castro attributed the killings at the prison, which O Globo newspaper reported was housing 1,400 inmates, double its capacity, to a gang known as the PCC (standing for First Command in the Capital).
A 2012 government report said the gang was the largest in Brazil, earning $32m (£25.9m) a year in drug sales, with almost half its 13,000 members in jail in Sao Paulo State, where the gang originated.
The resulting 17-hour prison uprising was the deadliest in Brazil in years.
Officials say police have managed to recapture 40 of the 87 prisoners who escaped in that break-out
No comments:
Post a Comment