These pictures reveal what life is like inside Brazi's most notorious and dangerous prison.
At least 75 inmates have died in the Pedrinhas Prison Complex since 2013, National Council of Justice claims.
And three people were brutally beheaded in the complex that year during violent riots which claimed 60 lives.
Heavily armed military police keep a constant and watchful eye on the prisoners homed within the walls in Maranhao state.
Overcrowding was believed to be one of the primary causes of rioting and violence in Brazil's prisons.
Additionally, densely packed complexes strengthened prison gangs which now span the country and control the suburbs of cities such as Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Sao Luis, where the Pedrinhas Prison Complex lies.
Brazil has the fourth-largest prison population in the world behind the Russia, the U.S. and China.
The number of prisoners has quadrupled in the past twenty years to around 550,000 and the country needs at least 200,000 new spaces to eliminate overcrowding.
A vast increase in minor drug arrests, a lack of legal advice for criminals and a lack of political will for new prisons have contributed to the increases.
In October 2013, prison gangs inside the complex in north-eastern Brazil left 10 dead and 30 injured in a violent uprising.
Rioting broke out between rival factions and spilled out into the city centre where marauding supporters torched seven buses and besieged the local hospital.
The mutiny started after several prisoners refused to allow wardens to carry out an inspection of their cells.
The situation rapidly escalated into a confrontation between the officers and the detainees.
And according to the Latin Times, at least 36 inmates managed to escape from Pedrinhas in September the following year.
The men and the women are kept separate from each other although authorities are unable to prevent all attempts at fraternising
Culled From Dailymail
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