- The riots occurred in two prisons, one in Guayas and the other in Cotopaxi province in the central Andes.
- At least 21 prisoners were killed and 50 were injured.
- The police and soldiers also blocked plans to escape from Cotopaxi prison.
Riots in two prisons in Ecuador have killed at least 21 inmates, and authorities said on Thursday that the country is struggling to deal with the second wave of deadly prison violence this year.
Another 50 people were injured, including some policemen. The SNAI prison administration said in a statement that the elite police force regained control of two prisons on Wednesday, one in the province of Guayas in the southwest and the other in the province of Cotopaxi in the central Andes.
According to the death toll updated on Thursday, 13 prisoners died in Cotopaxi prison, 35 prisoners and 6 policemen were injured.
Police and soldiers prevented 31 prisoners from planning to escape the facility.
SNAI said that in Guayas prison, eight prisoners were killed in the violence and three policemen were injured.
Read also | Inmates in a heavily guarded prison in Sweden kidnapped 2 guards and demanded pizza as a ransom
The two prisons were also involved in a wave of riots that broke out in February. Within a day, 79 prisoners were killed in clashes between rival gangs that vie for control of the country’s main prisons.
In these riots, prisoners were beheaded and burned, which violently exposed the power of prison gangs and shocked South American countries.
The prison system in Ecuador has approximately 60 facilities designed for 29,000 prisoners, but is overwhelmed by overcrowding and shortages. According to experts, there are about 38,000 detainees guarded by 1,500 guards, which is about 2,500 fewer.
The Ecuadorian Human Rights Ombudsman stated that 103 people were killed in Ecuadorian prisons in 2020.
In response to the violence, then President Lenin Moreno declared a state of emergency many times, including three months last year.
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Ecuador has been using alternative penalties for misdemeanors as a means of alleviating the prison population, thereby reducing overcrowding from 42% to 30%.
