Prisoners in Brazil took hostage at least 200 visitors, including some 190 women and children, Brazilian media reported Tuesday, citing a police spokesman, according to DPA. The revolt began Sunday evening in Jose Mario Alves da Silva prison in Porto Velho, the capital of the northern state of Rondonio, the reports quoted the spokesman as saying. The leaders of the uprising claimed by mobile phone that they had already killed 10 people, but the police initially rejected the claim as a strategy to increase pressure on them. The hostage-taking started during visiting time on Sunday. The prisoners were demanding the return of a man named "Birrinha" who had been transferred to another facility a few days previous to the incident, prison warden Bionor Miranda Maia said. Birrinha was considered the leader of the inmates in the prison. Television cameras on Tuesday showed images of the rebels apparently displaying the bodies of two victims on the prison roof. The authorities said that they wanted to meet the prisoners' demands to avoid a bloodbath.
