Guayas Provincial Governor Pablo Arosemena told reporters on Saturday that 58 convicts had died and 12 other prisoners were injured in violence in a Guayaquil suburb. The clashes took place in pavilion number two, which houses about 700 convicts.
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Violence erupted in a prison in Ecuador’s second largest city late in the evening. According to the daily El Comercio, some of the prisoners informed about the incident at night and early in the morning via social networks and asked for help. Relatives of convicts gathered in front of the prison in the morning, especially women, shouting at police officers and complaining about the lack of protection for their loved ones while ambulances arrived at the prison.
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A video showing the interior of the prisons, including a corridor with a bloody floor, also appeared on Twitter.
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51 prisoners are reported dead and 10 injured by the confrontation at the Guayaquil Litoral Penitentiary, according to unofficial data. The number could increase. Police tour the pavilions, where they found 1 rifle and 10 blocks of dynamite. pic.twitter.com/pWBZGz2gu6
– Newspaper D’Una (@periodicodeuna) November 13, 2021
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Riots are frequent in overcrowded Ecuadorian prisons, usually clashes between various gangs. At the end of September, 118 convicts died in such violence in Guayquil Prison. 80 prisoners died in the February violence.
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Last month, the Ecuadorian government stepped up prison guards by several thousand police officers. Relieving overcrowded prisons should also be a grace for about two thousand convicts.
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There are now 40,000 prisoners in Ecuador, with a capacity of about 10,000. About 8,350 prisoners are in Guayaquil Prison, where violence broke out tonight.
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