Eight inmates killed in riots at two Ecuador prisons

Eight inmates were killed in two separate prison riots in Ecuador on Thursday, according to the National Service for Comprehensive Care for Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders (SNAI), the prison authority.

In a statement posted on “X”, the SNAI said four inmates died at a prison in Latacunga, in Cotopaxi province, and four others were killed at El Inca prison in Quito, in Pichincha province. Anadolu Agency reported the deaths.

Ten other people were injured in the incidents and are receiving medical treatment, the authority said.

Authorities have identified those allegedly involved in the riots and plan to transfer them to El Encuentro, a maximum-security prison in the coastal province of Santa Elena, the SNAI added.

Law enforcement officers are carrying out operations at the affected facilities to restore order, the prison authority said.

Ecuador’s prisons have become major flashpoints of violence, with deadly clashes between rival criminal gangs claiming dozens of lives in a series of massacres since 2021.