A new prison riot is registered in Ecuador

In the early hours of this Monday, a new prison riot was registered in Ecuador, reported the Ministry of the Interior.

The State portfolio explained that this new riot took place in the Social Rehabilitation Center of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilasin the northern center of the country, and pointed out that up to now “there is no real information on victims and wounded.”

The National Comprehensive Care Service for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders of Ecuador (SNAI) saidmeanwhile, that protocols were activated with the National Police and the Armed Forces to control the situation.

They also indicated that the head of the SNAI, Pablo Ramírez, went to the prison to coordinate and carry out operational actions to maintain order.

The General Commander of the Police, Fausto Salinas, in an interview with Teleamazonas this Monday morning, mentioned that this riot was registered by the transfer to that penitentiary center of a highly dangerous prisonerwho was in La Roca prison in Guayas.

“This PPL (person deprived of liberty) was transferred in the first instance from the Turi prison to La Roca and from the latter he was taken to Santo Domingo. He is a member of the R7 criminal group that disputes territory with Los Lobos,” he explained.

He added that thanks to the actions of the security agents 40 prisoners were recaptured who had fled in the midst of the riot.

A crisis that does not end

Prison riots have been recurrent in Ecuador in recent times. At the beginning of April, one was registered in the Turi Social Rehabilitation Center, located in the Ecuadorian city of Cuenca, leaving at least 20 dead and 10 injured.

Last year, at least 316 people lost their lives inside the prisons in similar episodes, according to a balance offered by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Among the causes that the IACHR lists for intra-prison violence are “the lack of effective control of prisons by the State” and the “insufficiency of prison security guards dedicated to the surveillance and control of the centers”; along with factors such as the “weakening of the institutional framework” and a budget decrease since 2017 for the prison system.

Before the fact of this Monday, the minister of the Interior, said who work “to overcome the problems of the penitentiary system, but it is complex to find quick solutions in an environment of high pollution and violence”.