Ecuador has raised to 27 the number of inmates killed in riots in two jails this week that forced the government to declare a state of emergency.
President Guillermo Lasso had issued the order “to mobilise all necessary human and economic resources to re-establish order” in Ecuador’s prisons after violence erupted on Wednesday at jails in Guayas, in southwestern Ecuador, and Cotopaxi, in the centre of the country.Special police units deployed to the jails in southern Guayas province, home to the largest city of Guayaquil, and Cotopaxi province, south of capital Quito, to quell the violence.On Thursday, Ecuador’s police service wrote on Twitter that 45 inmates were captured as they attempted to escape from the Cotopaxi prison, where SNAI said 10 inmates died and 35 were injured. Eight prisoners died at the Guayas jail, according to SNAI.
In February, at least 79 inmates died at three prisons – including the centers in Guayas and Cotopaxi – in clashes between rival gangs.
At least five policemen were wounded in the Cotopaxi riot, El Comercio newspaper reported.
Policia Ecuador tweeted images of the prisoners who were able to exit the prison and reach a vacant lot before being caught by police and military personnel.Ecuadorian officials have for years sought to reduce violence at the country’s overcrowded prisons, home to some 38,000 inmates.
The country’s prison system was declared in a state of emergency by then-President Lenin Moreno in 2019 after a wave of incidents that killed 24.
