The Govenor of the Brazilian state of Amazonas [official website] on Tuesday dismissed [news report] the official in charge of the prison where 56 inmates died during a riot on New Year’s Day. The dismissal came as a reaction to the news that, weeks before the killings, two inmates had alerted the government that officials of the prison were receiving money from gangs in exchange for allowing the entry of weapons, phones and drugs into the prison. The two inmates who alerted the government were fearing for their lives in prison, and a request was made to transfer them. However the government entity in charge of moving the inmates went on recess soon after without analyzing the request. The two inmates died in connection with the riot, before being transferred out. The Court of Justice of the State of Amazonas has ordered an investigation into the allegations surrounding the riot.

The dismissal of the jail official is one in a long line of cases of government officials being involved in wrongdoing in the later years in Brazil. In August the Brazilian Senate began the impeachment trial [JURIST report] of former president Dilma Rousseff who was alleged to have manipulated government budget accounts and spent without congressional approval. In November the former governor of Rio de Janeiro Sérgio Cabral was arrested on allegations of corruption [JURIST report]. The arrest was based on claims by the police, that they were in possession of documents detailing public funds being paid as bribes to state officials, as well as instances of corruption, bribery, and money laundering. In October the former speaker of the house in Brazil Eduardo Cunha was arrested [JURIST report] for his alleged participation in an embezzlement scheme. He was arrested along with other politicians after an investigations into the relationships between the government and the local oil company Petrobras.