Former Ecuador vice president hospitalised but stable, prisons agency says
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuador’s detained former Vice President Jorge Glas was taken to hospital on Monday after he fell ill at a prison in Guayaquil, prison authorities said, just hours after his lawyers complained they had been unable to contact him. Glas, already twice convicted of corruption and now facing fresh charges, was arrested on […]
Dozens of prisoners escape Ecuador jail amid continued military operations
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Forty-three prisoners remain at large after escaping a prison in northern Ecuador, the SNAI prisons agency said on Monday, as security forces continued operations throughout the country. President Daniel Noboa declared a 60-day state of emergency last week, including a nighttime curfew, and designated 22 criminal groups as terrorists. Members of the […]
Ecuador recovering remains after prison violence, death toll unclear
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Ecuador’s police said on Wednesday they had recovered 11 bodies and 29 body parts after retaking control of various cell-blocks at a prison in Guayaquil where members of different criminal groups fought over the weekend. The forensic effort at the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison is continuing to determine the official death toll, […]
Nearly a sixth of Ecuador’s prisoners held without sentence – census
Quito, Ecuador Reuters Nearly a sixth of the inmates in Ecuador’s prisons have not been sentenced, a national census showed on Monday, as President Guillermo Lasso urged the judicial system to be speedier to help ease the burden on overcrowded jails. People gather outside the Penitenciaria del Litoral prison after a riot, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, […]
Gang control of Ecuador’s prisons leave inmates’ families terrified
Quito/Guayaquil, Ecuador Reuters Gangs operating inside Ecuador’s prisons are taking advantage of state abandonment to expand their power, extorting inmates for access to services and threatening their lives with violence, prisoners’ families and human rights groups say. The prison system in the South American country has faced structural problems for decades, but jail violence has […]