Cops have been criticised after forcing inmates to strip at a Brazilian jail and then sit naked on the ground with their hands tied behind their backs.

The pictures were reportedly shot at the Formiga penitentiary, which is located in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, resulting in numerous complaints after the images were published on social media networks.

The pictures show the prisoners sitting in a row, naked, with some of them handcuffed in the courtyard.

The general director of the unit, Ronaldo Antonio Gomides, was removed from his post after the State Secretariat for Justice and Public Security (SEJUSP) became aware of the case.

The police action was reportedly carried out to quell unrest among prisoners in which somebody had started a small fire that involved burning a mattress on 22nd October.

This resulted in the Rapid Intervention Group (GIR) of the Criminal Police being ordered in to restore the peace.

The complaint was reportedly made by the Association of Friends and Families of Persons Deprived of Liberty, who have so far not commented in public.

Formiga Attorney Angelo Ansanelli Junior told local media outlet TV Integracao that he received a request from the Operational Centre for Human Rights of the Public Ministry to initiate an investigation and added that he had received several anonymous complaints via the ombudsman about the incident, which was shared on social media.

The Penitentiary Department of Minas Gerais (Depen-MG) confirmed that an internal procedure had been launched.

In a statement, they said that it did not condone any misconduct, adding that “all complaints are investigated, respecting the broad defense and the adversary system.”

The regional director of the Criminal Police of the 7th Integrated Public Security Region (RISP) temporarily assumed the direction of the prison unit in Formiga after the removal of the previous director.