Ecuador concedes that 40% of prisoners in its jails have not been sentenced

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Some 40% of prisoners detained in Ecuadorian jails have not been sentenced, representing 14,803 inmates at the moment, the director of the SNAI penitentiary service Bolívar Garzón said on Thursday during a hearing in the National Assembly.

In a debate on insecurity in Ecuadorian streets and the prison crisis, SNAI director Garzón said that the prison population exceeds 38,000 detainees, of which 37,100 are being held for crimes, 544 for failure to pay alimony and 542 for various misdemeanors.

The capacity in the national prison infrastructure is for 30,196 people, the official said, representing a 26.46% overcrowding.

Overcrowding in these facilities is one of the factors mentioned as a catalyst for the recent massacres in Ecuadorian prisons, the last one on September 28, which left 119 inmates dead in Guayaquil, a dozen of whom have yet to be identified.

For Garzón, one of the factors that has led to this overcrowding is “the excessive use of pre-trial detention by judges,” and the fact that there are only 14 magistrates in the country handling prison benefit processes, “a right of persons deprived of their liberty,” which keeps some 5,000 files pending while prisoners remain in detention.

In his assessment of the situation in the SNAI, he pointed out the deficit of human resources in the penitentiary security body, which has 1,654 guards for 36 adult prisons and 20 juvenile prisons throughout the country.

He also noted that the government tdoes not have a social rehabilitation system and urged the Assembly to process a regulation that defines a solution other than the punitive concept of incarceration.

Since the Guayaquil massacre, the prison crisis has been one of the most pressing issues in Ecuadorian politics, and although all recognize that the system has been overwhelmed, few corrective measures have been taken so far.

Garzón said he “inherited” a “collapsed” system and insisted on the major changes required to overcome the crisis in prisons, now under a 60-day state of emergency.

Also taking part in Thursday’s parliamentary session were the general commander of the Police Tannya Varela, head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces Jorge Cabrera Espinosa, and the Minister of Government (Interior) Alexandra Vela.

Regarding police operations to mitigate street crime, Varela highlighted the dismantling of several gangs with an “economic impact on criminal organizations of US$2.7 million.”

Vela warned of the threat posed by criminal organizations, which have increased their “capacity to penetrate the economy under the logic of corruption at all levels, both in the public and private sectors.”