Although increasingly authoritarian, Ecuador is unable to get a grip on its prison problem

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Clashes registered on Tuesday between inmates in the prison of the city of Esmeraldas, located in the northwest of Ecuador, left three inmates dead, informed the National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty (SNAI).

The SNAI indicated on its official Twitter account that members of the National Police controlled the incidents that began on Tuesday afternoon.

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The entity mentioned that the coordination of actions with the Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office began to “establish material and intellectual authors of this case”.

On December 28, 2021, the SNAI reported the death of a person in the Regional prison of Guayaquil, within the framework of disorders registered in that prison, before the visit of the Minister of Government, Alexandra Vela, and the governor of Guayas, Pablo Arosemena.

The Ecuadorian prison system suffered frequent clashes between gangs during 2021, which resulted in the murder of 315 prisoners.

Last September 29, the worst massacre occurred in Guayaquil prison, where at least 116 inmates lost their lives.