Deadly prison riots, mainly a Latin American problem

After 68 people were killed in a Venezuelan prison Wednesday, here is recap of some of the worst prison riots in recent decades, mainly in Latin America's violent and overcrowded jails.

- DEADLIEST -
Several massive riots, often involving fires, have left more than 100 people dead.

- In 2005 a fire erupts at an overcrowded prison in Dominican Republic's eastern city of Higuey after a dawn riot, leaving at least 135 people dead. Inmates use insect and weed killer to set mattresses alight.

- In 1994, 121 inmates are killed after prisoners set fire to three prison blocks during a riot at Sabaneta prison in Venezuela's northern city of Maracaibo.

- In 1992 in Brazil 111 prisoners are killed when security forces put down a mutiny at the enormous Carandiru jail outside Sao Paulo.

- In the worst incident outside of Latin America, security forces shoot and kill around 100 inmates in Algeria in 1995 in response to an escape bid by rioting fundamentalist prisoners at a high-security Algiers jail.

- OTHERS IN VENEZUELA -
Venezuela's prisons suffer from dire overcrowding and a shortage of basic supplies, with authorities often resorting to massively overpopulated police detention centres to hold inmates.

Here are some of the other recent most deadly incidents in the country.

- A riot breaks out in 2013 in Uribana prison in the northwestern city of Barquisimeto during a search for weapons: around 60 people are killed, including a guard and a priest.

- A mutiny in police cells in the southern state of Amazonas in 2017 leaves 37 dead and 14 wounded.

- In July 2012, 28 inmates die during a prison riot in Merida in the west. The following month at least 25 are killed in clashes between rival gangs in the Yare I prison near Caracas.

- RECENTLY IN LATIN AMERICA -
Other Latin American countries also experience violent unrest in their overcrowded jails. Here are some from recent months.

- In January 2018 a riot breaks out between rival gangs at the Aparecida prison complex in Brazil's state of Goias, leaving nine inmates dead -- all of them burned and two decapitated -- and allowing nearly 100 to escape.

- In October 2017 in Mexico there is major unrest at a prison in Cadereyta in Nuevo Leon state and inmates start fires. Sixteen people are killed.

- In July 2017, also in Mexico, 28 inmates are hacked to death by their rivals at a prison in the resort town of Acapulco.

- In Brazil in January 2017 jailed gang members behead and mutilate 56 of their rivals in a 17-hour bloodbath at a prison in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state.

Days later inmates behead and mutilate their rivals at the Monte Cristo Farm Penitentiary in Roraima state, leaving 33 dead.