- Prisons in Brazil run most violent offenders as 'chaveiros' - or 'keyholders'
- Chaveiros sell crack cocaine to inmates and make them pay a weekly 'tax'
- They have henchmen who beat up or kill the inmates who owe them money
- Chaveiros live in luxury with private cells, TVs, fridges, fans and bathrooms, employ personal servants, known as 'chegados'
- Inmate had plastic bag put over his head, hands tied behind his back and was raped
Jails in Brazil's Pernambuco state are lawless dens of iniquity being run by inmates who sell crack cocaine to prisoners and murder anyone who owes them money, an investigation has revealed.
Bosses in the state's overcrowded prisons are frightened of inmates and give the most dangerous ones called 'chaveiros' - or 'keyholders' - control over their cell block for them to 'maintain order'.
The authorities give the job to convicted murderers, rapists and drug dealers because they 'command respect from fellow inmates', a jailbird told charity Human Rights Watch (HRW), who reported on the four Pernambuco prisons, where there is one guard for 31 inmates.
It found chaveiros-run jails are hell holes where disease is rife, vulnerable ones are gang raped and relatives outside are blackmailed into paying off inmates' drug debts.
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