At least 37 people were killed during clashes between armed inmates and security forces at a small prison in southern Venezuela, ABC news quoted the state's governor as saying Wednesday.

Governor Liborio Guarulla said the bloodshed came after fighting erupted between inmates and their jailers Tuesday night in the prison in Puerto Ayacucho, capital of sparsely populated Amazonas state. 

He said security forces raided the facility seeking to restore order in the prison, where the inmates had seized control several weeks ago.

Venezuela has around 30 prisons, many of which suffer from overcrowding and are dominated by criminal gangs that traffic in weapons and narcotics as well as plot crimes taking beyond prison walls.

Source: MENA