At least 13 inmates were found dead Sunday at a prison in southern Ecuador that has been ravaged by violence in recent months, the country’s prison service SNAI said on Monday.
SNAI said the bodies were found after an explosive device detonated outside Machala Prison, but it was unclear whether the explosion was directly related to the inmate’s death.
SNAI added that authorities were conducting autopsies and “routine procedures” to determine how they died.
“Police arrived at the scene at that time and simultaneously carried out immediate intervention and investigation at the center,” SNAI told reporters in a statement after several rounds of questioning.
Sunday’s incident was the latest act of violence reported at the prison this year.
Last month, two clashes between rival gangs left at least 31 inmates dead, 27 of them from “asphyxia,” officials said at the time.
In the first attack, the criminal group Los Lobos was targeted early in the morning by a breakaway gang known as Saobox, Interior Minister John Reinberg said in an interview with Ecuador’s Radio Centro the day after his death. At least four inmates were reportedly killed and around 36 injured at Machala detention center. Two officers were not seriously injured as authorities intervened to regain control of the situation.
Later that day, Los Lobos carried out a “retaliatory” attack against Saobox, killing 27 members by suffocating them inside several cells shared by both groups, Reinberg said. Authorities did not immediately say what “suffocation” meant or whether the inmate had been hanged.
Another violent incident at the prison in September left at least 14 inmates dead and a prison guard shot dead inside one of his cells.
More than 600 inmates have been killed inside violent prisons in Ecuador since 2020, according to a recent report from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
On 26 November, the IACHR reiterated its concern over persistent violence in prisons and called on States to take immediate steps to guarantee the right to life and integrity of prisoners.
The Ministry of the Interior acknowledged that prisons were no longer adequate for current levels of crime.
Despite military and police presence in some prisons, there has been a wave of violence inside prisons. This is part of the ongoing internal armed conflict declared in January 2024 by the government of Ecuadorian President Daniel Novoa with the aim of quelling criminal violence nationwide.
