Sorocaba, Brazil - Brazilian inmates holding up to 650 hostages at a prison near Sao Paulo agreed yesterday to free them in exchange for being transferred to other prisons, authorities said.
The hostages, mostly visiting relatives who had been held since Sunday when 15 inmates took control of the prison, would be released this morning, said Mr Joao Benedito Marques, secretary of the Sao Paulo state penitentiary department.