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Several-day episodes of violence and clashes in three Ecuadorian prisons have caused the deaths of about 80 inmates. Local authorities said today that they have regained control of prison institutions but the massacre adds to the ongoing wound of the country’s corrupt and overcrowded penitentiary system.
The government prison agency said 37 inmates had died in Guayaquil, 34 in the city of Cuenca, and eight in the central city of Latacunga.
Organized clashes had erupted in the high-security area of the detention centers as rival gangs fought for dominance of the territory.
Riots erupted when prison authorities launched a campaign of gun checks in cells. Only after three days of chaos, many dead and wounded, authorities said they had regained control of the centers.
Local television footage of February 22 showed prisoners jumping from high walls, while others showed them forcibly opening prison doors.
The detainees were subsequently detained by police and the army.
Photos and videos on social media showed severe images of prisoners being beheaded, others maimed or lying in pools of blood.
High-security areas in prisons usually hold convicts for murder, drug trafficking, extortion, and other serious crimes.
President Lenín Moreno declared a state of emergency for the prison system and ordered increased security measures.
Moreno commented: “As a result of the violent riots in three prisons in the country, I have ordered the Ministry of Defense to carry out strict controls on weapons, ammunition and explosives in the areas around the institutions.”
A similar riot in 2020 in several detention centers caused the death of 11 inmates from confrontations between them.
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