IACHR mission in Ecuador this week to analyze prison crisis

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Presided by Commissioner Stuardo Ralón, Rapporteur for the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, a delegation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will visit Ecuador between Wednesday and Friday to learn about the situation in the country’s prisons, as advised Monday (29) by the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry.

In its press release, the Foreign Ministry also announced that the mission’s objective would be to visit various prisons and hold meetings with national authorities, civil society organizations, and other relevant actors to analyze the situation of persons deprived of their liberty.

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As is known, the Ecuadorian penitentiary system is going through a crisis never before seen, as more than 300 prisoners have been killed in different riots throughout this year in fights linked to criminal gangs associated with drug trafficking.

Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso renewed the state of emergency in prisons for 30 more days on Monday, due to the “serious internal commotion” generated by the riots and massacres.

One of the measures established in the document is the suspension of the right to inviolability of correspondence and freedom of association and assembly of inmates. The paper also recognizes a “theoretical deficit” of 2,500 prison security agents nationwide.

Lasso had signed the first declaration of a state of emergency on September 29 after the largest massacre ever recorded inside an Ecuadorian prison, which resulted in 118 deaths and lasted for 60 days.

The IACHR mission is technical, with the task of providing cooperation and assistance to help solve the delicate situation that the prison system is going through, and the group will also include the executive secretary and her assistant.

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