First modification:
The riot occurred in the city of Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. In the last two years there have been several events of this magnitude. The Government of Guillermo Lasso proposes to develop the first human rights policy towards the prison population.
A deadly riot took place in the early hours of this Monday in a prison located in central Ecuador. The Prosecutor’s Office reported that the confrontation left at least 43 dead and more than a dozen injured.
The events occurred due to clashes between the rival gangs ‘Los Lobos’ and ‘R7’, according to the Ministry of the Interior.
“Most of them, not to say almost one hundred percent, at first glance it can be seen that they were deprived of life by a knife, not with a firearm,” reported Patricio Carrillo, Minister of the Interior.
According to the minister, most of the deceased were attacked “in the pavilions and in the cells.” The death toll may rise, due to the seriousness of the injuries of the injured.
It was also possible to recapture 112 prisoners who were trying to save their lives and others with the intention of escaping. The National Police, in coordination with the Armed Forces, will guard the highways that connect the penitentiary with the nearest municipality and the rest of the Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas province.
At the end of the revolt, a search was carried out in which firearms were found inside the prison. The center is now back under the control of the authorities.
We regained control within the Social Rehabilitation Center of Sto.Domingo. Thanks to the joint work of @PoliceEcuador and @FFAECUADOR. Our commitment is and always will be the safety of Ecuadorians. https://t.co/G8fOHriYTv
— Guillermo Lasso (@LassoGuillermo) May 9, 2022
Serious prison situation
In a report released by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the prison crisis, the Ecuadorian government was urged to regain control of the penitentiaries, offer decent living conditions to inmates and create policies to prevent crime.
In the South American nation, some 400 prisoners have died in two years due to this type of confrontation between gangs and organizations linked to drug trafficking.
Prison overcrowding is also one of the problems affecting the prison system.
At the end of last year, there were some 36,000 inmates in 36 of this type of disciplinary facility, whose final capacity is 30,000.
The level of overcrowding reaches 62% in some prisons, such as the one in Guayaquil, the scene of bloody clashes. The local prison has at least 7,231 prisoners.
First human rights prison policy
To solve the crisis, the government of President Guillermo Lasso will implement some measures. It will hire some 1,400 new prison officers, grant around 5,000 pardons to people convicted of minor crimes and develop the country’s first human rights policy towards the prison population.
Earlier this month, the director of the Assistance Program Against Organized Transnational Crime (EL PAcCTO), Xavier Cousquer, announced that the European Union (EU) allocated 2.5 million euros (about 2.64 million dollars ) to help, urgently, in efforts to combat the prison crisis in Ecuador.
The most recent event of this type occurred on April 25. 15 prisoners were injured in clashes between inmates inside the El Inca prison in Quito. From this fact, about 100 are still fugitives.
with EFE
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