Brazilian Convicts Lose Bizarre Lottery, Die
Prisoners in a provincial Brazilian jail beat to death two of their cellmates after a lottery decided who was to die, police said Tuesday.
According to the authorities, inmates in two cells in a prison in the Minas Gerais state capital of Belo Horizonte decided one from each cell should die in order to draw attention to poor conditions. Names were drawn from a hat and the two losers, both in their 20s, were then kicked and punched to death Monday.
Police said they feared that similar murders could occur among the 64 prisoners being held in the jail’s nine small cells.
In the last two months, 13 prisoners have died in protests over conditions in Minas Gerais state prisons. In the neighboring state of Sao Paulo, nine inmates of an overcrowded prison died during a night of rioting in March.
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