The aim of this article is to examine the profile of riots in Brazil's prison system since the 1970s, reviewing what has been produced on those events in France, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The article's main argument is that riots in Brazilian prisons in the last fifteen years have been associated both to decaying prison conditions and the State's problems to exert control over the prison's everyday life, thus allowing organized crime groups to exert power over the mass of inmates, who use riots to remove enemies and strengthen their position of domination before prison staff.
prison; riots; deaths; gangs; prison system