09:58 AEST Thu Jun 16 2005 AAP
AP - A prison uprising in which at least five inmates were beheaded in south eastern Brazil has ended after prisoners agreed to release 10 hostages unharmed, prison officials say.
The 30-hour uprising at the Presidente Venceslau Penitentiary, 620 kilometres west of Sao Paulo, began on Tuesday after one gang attacked another in a settling of accounts said Marcelo Daniel, a spokesman for the Sao Paulo State Prison Affairs Bureau.
"There may be more dead inmates behind the prison walls," Daniel said. "We're checking."
According to Danilo Bomfim, a spokesman for the Prison Guards Union, "at least seven prisoners may have been decapitated".
During the uprising, the Globo TV network broadcast footage showing an inmate holding a long bamboo pole with a decapitated head stuck on it.
Daniel said prison and law enforcement officials negotiated the end of the rebellion, but did not provide further details.
In the remote town of Ji-Parana, more than 2,000 kilometres north west of Sao Paulo in the state of Rondonia, close to 300 inmates at the Agenor de Carvalho penitentiary also put an end to an uprising that lasted nearly 24 hours.
"A group of prisoners prevented from escaping seized three guards and held them hostage for several hours," said Juarez Macedo, a spokesman for the Rondonia Prison Affairs Bureau.
"The hostages were released unharmed after representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and local human rights groups arrived to guarantee that none of the prisoners would suffer any reprisals," he said.
Meanwhile, a small group of prisoners at the Ariosvaldo Campos Pires penitentiary in Juiz de Fora, 450 kilometres north east of Sao Paulo showed no signs of ending the uprising they began five days ago. Juiz de Fora is located in Minas Gerais state.
"Inmates are holding two guards and possibly 10 relatives hostage," Hugo Teixeira a state government spokesman said by telephone.
"It is unclear if the relatives are refusing to leave the prison or are being held hostage."
The uprising which began last Saturday during visiting hours, is confined to just one of the penitentiary's three cellblocks.
Bump.
Thanks TexKat
By MIKE BARBER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
A former Fort Lewis soldier is suing the makers of the Army's new Stryker fighting vehicle, saying that an unsafe seat-belt design resulted in his permanent disability and discharge from the military.
The complaint against General Motors and General Dynamics was filed yesterday by Spc. Genaro Jesus Diaz's lawyers in U.S. District Court in Seattle.
The complaint seeks unspecified damages because of career-ending injuries that Diaz, then 22, is alleged to have received July 27, 2002, while test-driving the new vehicle for the two corporations in field conditions at the Army's Yakima Training Center.
At the time, GM and General Dynamics retained title and ownership of the vehicle they were developing for the Army but needed soldiers to put it through its paces.
"We think this is a predelivery testing malfunction while using our soldiers as -- guinea pigs is too strong, but test mannequin is too light -- but that's what it is," Seattle lawyer D. Michael Tomkins said yesterday.
Diaz, an infantryman who had planned a career as a soldier, had his sights set on becoming an Army Ranger. Now home in Texas, Diaz also is denied a fall-back dream of becoming a Texas Ranger.
Diaz suffered herniated vertebrae in his back and neck damage and remains in pain, Tomkins said. A guy who once could run 10 miles, Diaz now only walks, Tomkins said.
Neither Diaz nor officials with GM and General Dynamics could be reached for comment. Nor could spokesmen at Fort Lewis.
In 2002, when the Stryker vehicles were being developed, "the Army never took possession of the vehicles, and the corporations had their own technicians on the site throughout the testing phase. They specifically told the Army not to touch any problem, to let our GM people fix it," Tomkins said when asked why the Army wasn't a defendant.
Since the seat-belt accident, the $4 million Stryker vehicles have encountered other problems with armor and a mobile gun system that have drawn Congress' attention.
Overall, however, most soldiers defend the infantry carriers as lifesavers, especially from car bombs rigged with Iraqi artillery shells.
Tomkins said that Diaz's is one of the first cases of its kind but that other soldiers and lawyers around the country are interested.
Diaz's claim alleges he was greeted with deaf ears when he tried to report that the seat belts failed to lock.
"Spc. Diaz was nonetheless ordered to drive the Stryker up a steep incline with the hatch closed. The Stryker crested the incline and fell over a 10- to 12-foot cliff nose first, striking the ground with great force. The seat belt failed to restrain Spc. Diaz, and he fell forward, striking his chest and head," the lawsuit says.
The Stryker is non-padded and steel-encased, Tomkins said.
"When you come out of your seat because of a faulty seat belt, you are thrown into a major danger zone. Everybody inside got pretty beat up, and Mr. Diaz got beat up the most," Tomkins said.