Days after Brazil has witnessed one of the goriest penitentiary mayhem, another prison killing spree in the nation's Amazon region occurred on Friday, with at least 33 inmates reported dead.

Roraima's largest jail holds between 1,200 and 1,700 prisoners, which exceeds its capacity for 750 people. The killings came five days after the country was shaken by the massacre of 56 inmates in Manaus.

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According to representatives from thge Department of Justice and Citizenship, the deaths transpired at around 2:30 a.m. on Friday at the congested Monte Cristo Agricultural Penitentiary in Boa Vista. The prisoners broke padlocks in their cells and escaped to slaughter other criminals who are allegedly members of a rival drug gang.

Bodies were found to be decapitated, with some hearts and intestines ripped out. Blood of victims were used to write a message of reprisal that said, "The PCC are in charge here. Blood is paid for with blood", intensifying fright that the incident was a revenge attack for the Manaus incident.

The brutal episodes of bloodbath are believed to involve fighting between the First Capital Command (PCC) and Red Command; both are infamous drug trafficking organizations, which are clashing for supremacy and dominion over the trade in cocaine in Brazil and across neighboring countries.

"The bloodshed is revealing a war between drug gangs, a failed prison system and a weak government," Rafael Alcadipani, a public security expert at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, said. "It's getting really ugly. This situation is clearly snowballing and there is nothing the government can do to stop the violence in the short term."

Brazilian president Michel Temer, whose administration is grappling with an economic crisis and surging corruption charges, described the situation as a "terrible accident," after saying nothing for three days subsequent to the Manaus massacre. 

TagsBrazil, Boa Vista, Roraima, prison, riot