BRAZIL’S Amazonas state governor Jose Melo declared yesterday that inmates responsible for killing 56 rivals at a state prison will be transferred to high security federal institutions in addition to being prosecuted.

Many of those slain were beheaded or dismembered in the worst bloodshed at a Brazilian prison since 1992.

Three other prisons in the state of Amazonas also saw riots on Sunday and Monday, with a total of 60 inmates dead, 184 escaped and only 48 recaptured.

Governor Melo said that the transfers would focus on local Family of the North gang members, who are alleged to have attacked those of Sao Paulo-based First Command, Brazil’s biggest criminal organisation.

The two are clashing over control of prisons and drug routes in northern Brazil.

“This is part of a national movement that happened in prisons of Roraima, Acre and Rondonia states,” said the governor.

“Now it is with us. What shocked us was the aggressive way it was done.”