The National Service of Integral Attention to Adults and Adolescent Offenders Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) indicated that the loud explosions and gunshots heard from inside the prison, in the province of Guayas, alarmed the inhabitants of the neighboring urbanizations.

According to SNAI, members of the Special Group of Penitentiary Action (GEAP) are verifying the news and alerts in this social rehabilitation center.

So far, they have not confirmed that any inmates have been injured or killed as a result of these new clashes. Since Monday afternoon, when the disturbances started in this detention center, the SNAI activated the security protocols and announced that the Unified Command Post is activated in coordination with the National Police and the Armed Forces.

Last Friday, a confrontation of several hours between inmates of wards three, five, eight and nine left 12 dead and three wounded.

Earlier, on Wednesday, April 14, the SNAI confirmed the death of three uniformed women who were having lunch in a restaurant in front of the penitentiary and the previous week six detainees were found hanged in the same center.

According to data from SNAI and the Attorney General’s Office, at least 442 people have been killed in Ecuador’s prisons since February 2021, that is, in state custody.

Violence has also spilled onto the streets with gangs fighting for control of drug trafficking, especially in the coastal area, from whose ports narcotics leave for the United States and Europe.

The prison and security crisis is becoming increasingly evident with frequent robberies, murders, extortion, kidnappings, bomb threats and other crimes, while citizens are demanding comprehensive actions from the government of President Guillermo Lasso to deal with it.

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