An Ecuadorian judge rejected a habeas corpus petition on Saturday filed by the legal team of former Vice President Jorge Glas, who sought increased food rations and specialized medical care at the country’s newest maximum-security prison.

“I wake up hungry, I spend the afternoon hungry, and I go to bed hungry. And proof that my hunger is real is 30 pounds less in weight. Keeping a person permanently hungry, losing weight, is a form of torture,” the former Ecuadorian vice president said from prison.

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In recent weeks, Glas’s international attorney, Sonia Vera, warned that her client is in critical condition, having lost more than eight kilograms in under 30 days – a rate triple what health standards consider safe.

Vera noted that a Ministry of Public Health nutritionist issued a report on February 10, 2026, documenting a nine‑kilogram loss over three months; the nutritionist could not complete a full evaluation because she was barred from bringing her medical instruments. The prescribed diet has reportedly not been followed, and the state is aware of the malnutrition.

However, at the hearing, the judge declared the request inadmissible, stating that insufficient evidence had been presented to show that the former vice president’s rights to life, health, or physical integrity had been violated.

Glas is being held at Cárcel del Encuentro, a maximum-security prison built on the initiative of President Daniel Noboa and inspired by Nayib Bukele’s prison model in El Salvador. 

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