Brazil: Detainee found dead after failed escape disguised as a young woman

A prisoner who had hit the headlines in Brazil for trying to escape from prison disguised as a young woman with the clothes of his daughter was found dead Tuesday in his cell, announced the prison authorities.

Brazil prisoner tries to escape disguised as his daughter pic.twitter.com/Cw5OjPCP3w

Clauvino da Silva, 42, tried unsuccessfully Saturday to leave the main door of a prison in Rio de Janeiro wearing a silicone mask, a wig with long brown hair and clothes belonging to his daughter. 19, who had just visited him. The prisoner was serving a 73-year prison sentence for drug trafficking. His daughter was arrested, along with seven other visitors to the prison.

He would have hanged himself

Three days after the failure of his escape attempt, Clauvino da Silva, a member of the Comando Vermelho gang (the Red Commando), was found dead in his cell in a high security prison. "The detainee seems to have hanged himself with a sheet," the prison authorities said in a statement, adding that an investigation had been opened to establish the circumstances of the death. Last week, a clash between detainees belonging to rival factions of drug traffickers left 58 people dead in the state of Para (north), one of the worst massacres in the history of Brazilian prisons.