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Besides throwing gas inside the prisons, the inmates captured 20 prison guides and administrative staff to reject the transfer of gang leaders to Guayaquil City.
On Tuesday, President Guillermo Lasso once again demonstrated his inability to control security inside Ecuadorian prisons. Criminal gangs unleashed episodes of violence in prisons in the Esmeraldas, El Oro, Santo Domingo, and Cotopaxi cities.
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Besides throwing gas inside the prisons, the convicts captured 20 prison guides and administrative staff to reject the transfer of gang leaders from the Turi prison in Cuenca city to a maximum-security prison in Guayaquil.
"We had to proceed with the transfers to avoid that members of criminal organizations gain power inside the center,” Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said, stressing that Police agents managed to regain control of the four prisons.
On Tuesday, the National Service of Comprehensive Care for Persons Deprived of Liberty (SNAI) announced the formation of a "Crisis Committee" that will evaluate possible policies to counteract these violent acts.
#ATENCIÓN | Se reportan desmanes en las cárceles de #SantoDomingo, #Machala, #Latacunga y #Esmeraldas.
— Periodismo Público Ecuador (@PeriodismoP_Ec) April 5, 2022
Los problemas se registran horas después de que las autoridades trasladaron a la cárcel La Roca de Guayaquil a 5 cabecillas de grupos delictivos que estaban en Turi, #Cuenca. pic.twitter.com/XICJB0qdx4
“The transfers of prisoners will continue as part of the policy to avoid confrontations in national detention centers. However, only those convicts who incite violence will be relocated,” Carrillo highlighted.
In February, Lasso signed a decree to expedite pardons to Ecuadorans convicted of theft, fraud, and breach of trust and who have served 40 percent of their sentence as part of a plan to reduce the over-30-percent overcrowding in national prisons.
On Tuesday, Human Rights Secretary Bernarda Ordoñez announced that Lasso granted 330 new pardons of this type. However, human rights organizations denounced that counteracting violence in Ecuadoran prisons will require much more comprehensive policies.
#Ecuador | Heavy rains leave 18 people dead in Quito. The storm that fell on the city on Monday afternoon reached 75 liters per square meter, a volume that set a record in the last two decades. pic.twitter.com/vnpB4sy4VF
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) February 1, 2022
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