Ecuador's National Assembly Debates Report on Prison Crisis

The National Assembly of Ecuador began a debate on Wednesday on the crisis of the national prison system, following a report prepared by the Commission on Sovereignty, Integration and Integral Security on the role of the State in the face of recent events in prisons. 

In the report, they issued several considerations, among them that the State should adopt "concrete measures of comprehensive reparation of a general nature to prevent the repetition of serious acts of violence in prisons."

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Based on the 52 conclusions and 76 recommendations, it also insisted on establishing "a commitment to comply with international human rights norms and standards."
 
The plenary received, via general commission, the coordinator of the Alliance of Organizations for Human Rights, Vivian Idrovo, who emphasized the lack of social rehabilitation policies in prisons.

In cataloging the "alarming situation of citizen insecurity in the country," the president of the National Assembly, Guadalupe LLori, referred that it is necessary to "strengthen the work of the institutions, work in a true process of social rehabilitation, process pardons for people with catastrophic diseases or groups of priority attention, always respecting the independence of functions and Human Rights."

"#LegislativePlenary | According to the @SeguridadAN report, in the visits to the Centers of Deprivation of Liberty, it was evidenced that in some of them there are no basic services such as drinking water 24 hours a day, nor health care. #PrisonCrisisControl"

Local media reiterate that the lack of directors, budget cuts for social rehabilitation and the implementation of other public policies in this sense and overcrowding are elements that have led to the massacres in prisons.

The Committee on Sovereignty, Integration and Integral Security proposes the issuance of a penitentiary census that will make it possible to have statistics, identify the general data of the persons deprived of liberty, their socioeconomic condition, degree of danger and penitentiary regime.

The Assembly's Commission requests the Comptroller's Office of Ecuador to examine the contracting processes carried out by the former Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Worship and the National Service of Integral Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Offenders of Ecuador, during the declaration of the State of emergency.

Information platforms corroborate that 318 persons deprived of liberty have died since February of this year due to clashes between different gangs operating in these centers.